


Prodigal Son, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-21
Updated: 2008-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-15 04:03:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 22,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14783255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Josh's brother comes to visit.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: Hey, just because canon only mentions Josh's sister that dies, doesn't mean there weren't others, right?  


* * *

~SAM’S POV~

“Donna!”

I see Donna zipping down the corridor and she stops dead when she hears me call her name and spins around. A huge grin spreads across her face when she sees me. Donna’s always happy to see me. I don’t think quite as happy to see me as she gets when she sees Josh, but happy nonetheless.

“Hey Sam!” She greets. She waits for me to catch up to her. “Were you down in the mess?”

“Grabbing dinner.” I nod. “Josh back yet?”

“Not for another hour or so.” she says shaking her head and we start walking as she’s shuffling a stack of papers.

“Whatcha doing?”

“Stuff.” she says.

“What kind of stuff?”

“Stuff with paper.”

“That could be almost anything.”

“It’s the federal government, Sam, the possibilities are endless.” 

I like sparring with Donna. I don’t do it much when Josh is around because Josh doesn’t like it too much when other people spar with Donna. Josh pretty much just doesn’t like it when other people end up on the general planet as Donna. He doesn’t realize he’s so obvious, but he is. 

I like being around Josh and Donna. Talk about repressed. These two want each other so bad it almost smells. Usually they work incredibly well together, a fluid machine. But sometimes when they start to banter, one will get the upper hand and trip the other up leaving them speechless with a goofy look on their face. I don’t get to see that often, but I really like it when I do.

I’m always amused when I read someone describe Josh as a ladies’ man or a playboy. Girls just love him. He’s even got a fan club. But what’s truly ironic about that is, Josh really doesn’t know what to do when he’s attracted to a woman. He ends up with these mean women like Mandy and Amy. Well, Amy wasn’t so much mean as too aggressive politically for him. When Donna turns on her charm for him, he doesn’t know what to do. He acts like a 14 year old with a crush. 

Josh hides it all much better than she does. When he was shot, it was right there for everybody to see. Everyone just sort of accepted it and turned a blind eye at the same time. She hid it pretty well when he dated Amy, but I could tell it broke her heart. 

Not that she hasn’t been guilty of the same thing. She dated some Republican last year and I thought Josh’s head was going to explode. 

They’ll end up together one day. I hope it’s soon. 

“Where’d Josh go anyway?”

“Hill.” she says, still sifting through her paper. Every now and then, she drops something in someone’s inbox. 

“To see...”

“Skinner, farm subsidies.”

“He usually runs late with Matt.”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m saying another hour. He should have been back 45 minutes ago.”

“I’m going to be here late tonight.” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. 

“Writer’s block?”

“Yeah.” I admit. “Campaign speeches get pretty draining.”

“What’s it for?”

“Indiana.” 

“I’m going on that trip.” 

“I don’t think I am.” 

“Oh great.” she says and stops. “So, we get Toby.”

“Yeah, he’ll be pleasant.” I smirk. She rolls her eyes and continues on. 

“How do you walk so fast in those heels?”

“We get lessons in gym class in middle school.”

“Seriously?”

“No!” she laughs. 

When Donna delivers something with a straight face, it’s really hard to tell if she’s pulling your leg or not. She gets Josh all the time. If she tells him something with a completely seriously look, he’ll fall for anything. THAT’S fun to watch. I would never describe him as gullible, but his trust in her is absolute and she gets him a lot. It makes him crazy.

We push through the doors of Josh’s bullpen and, as usual, it’s controlled chaos. I often wonder how it is that Donna can work amongst all this mayhem, but I also know that she tends to use his office when he’s not around. I don’t know if that’s for the quiet and privacy, or if she just likes to be around his stuff. Probably a little of both. 

She walks to her desk and it’s then that I notice the Naval officer standing outside Josh’s door. My eyes widen and my jaw drops.

“Hi, Sam.” he greets with a smirk I know well.

“Oh. My. God.” is all I can get out.

Donna turns around to see what’s elicited my sudden change in demeanor. The color drains from her face. She looks like she’s seen a ghost.

“Oh my God.” she whispers. “Jonah.”


	2. Prodigal Son, The

~DONNA’S POV~

I simply cannot believe what I’m seeing. Jonah Lyman, right there in front of me.

Holy. Shit.

Josh is going to absolutely freak out. And that’s putting it mildy.

“Oh my God.” I whisper. “Jonah.”

“Yeah, Donna.” he smiles and damn if he doesn’t look just like his older brother. 

“How’d you know who I was?” I demand, and he laughs out loud. His laugh isn’t quite the same as Josh’s. 

“Are you kidding?” he smiles. 

“Does Josh know you’re coming?” Sam asks.

“Are YOU kidding?” Jonah says, though he doesn’t seem as amused as he was a moment ago.

I cross my arms over my chest and look at Jonah pointedly. “He’s not going to be happy to see you, you know.” 

“I’d have a stroke if he was.” he replies. 

People are starting to mill around a little bit and Sam ushers us into Josh’s office and shuts the door. 

I’ve asked Josh about Jonah a grand total of once. The first and only time I did, he took my head off. I can get him to talk about Joanie. Jonah? No. Way.

However, I CAN get Sarah Lyman to talk about Jonah very easily. From what I get from her, she was pregnant with Jonah when Joanie died. Jonah always idolized Josh growing up and for a time, Josh always looked out for his baby brother. However, Jonah apparently made some really dumb choices in high school and he had Josh had some huge falling out. Sarah doesn’t know exactly what happened, but Josh hasn’t willingly contacted Jonah since. He’ll be civil to him in the presence of his mother.

Jonah drifted a bit out of high school before ending up in the Navy and now apparently, he’s part of the SEAL teams. I wonder every now and then if Josh thinks of him when there’s missions going on in the situation room. I wonder if he thinks it’s likely his brother dropping into Lebanon to destroy illegal missiles or into North Korea to rescue a pilot.

Sam obviously knows Jonah though. I wonder if I can get out of him what happened. Of course, when Josh gets back, there’s likely to be an eruption and it may come out then. 

“You didn’t come to see him.” I hiss.

“Oh, yes I did.” 

He immediately knows I’m referring to when Josh was shot. I was camped out at Josh’s bedside. Jonah never made an appearance.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.” he insists. “You can ask my mother, or my brother for that matter. He was awake for some of the visit, if not all that lucid. You, on the other hand, were unconscious the entire time.” The tone of his voice changes and I’m a little thrown off my game. He sounds so much like Josh. 

“Excuse me?”

“I was on an assignment and it took a week before I could get here. I got to GW about 2 in the morning. My mother was awake. You were sleeping on the side of Josh’s bed. You slept the entire time. I was there for three hours. Josh woke up at one point, but he wasn’t very coherent. My mother said you’d been there ever since he was brought in.” 

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I wanted to. I was dying to meet the famous Donna, but my mother wouldn’t let me disturb you. She said you hadn’t been sleeping very much.”

There’s a knock on the door and Sam opens it up. Leo enters.

“Hey, Jonah. They told me at the desk you were here.” I’m stunned as Leo greets Jonah with a hug, much the same I’ve seen him give Josh. 

“It’s good to see you, Leo.”

“You knew he was coming?” Sam asks.

“Yeah, who do you think got him in here?” Leo replied.

“Josh is going to freak.”

“Please.” Leo scoffs. “I can handle Josh. Besides, the man’s a decorated Naval Captain that the Pentagon trusts to lead covert missions. I think it’s okay for him to set foot in the White House. Come with me, Jonah. Mal’s on her way over to see you.”

“Is she still with that hockey player?” 

“Don’t start.” Leo groans as he leads Josh’s brother out of his office and Sam and I stay behind in silence. 

Sam walks slowly over to Josh’s credenza and looks around the room, as I drop down into a visitor’s chair. I have absolutely no idea how Josh is going to react to this. I really don’t think he’s going to be happy. Josh is a very private person and keeps things close to the vest. I can get him to open up to me more than the others can, but like I said, I’ve never been able to get him to talk about his brother. 

“Sam, you have to tell me what happened.” I order. “You can’t let me get into this blind.”

“I don’t know what happened, Donna.” Sam says quietly. “All I know is Jonah did something that Josh deemed unforgivable. I’ve only met Jonah a few times, and he’s never told me what happened either. His solution to the situation seems to be to pretend that nothing’s wrong. I don’t know how he puts up with the way Josh treats him.” 

“There’s got to be something else here, Sam. Jonah’s his brother and Josh would never turn his back on family.”

“Seriously, Donna, take my advice and stay far away from this.”

“I can’t, Sam.” I say quietly. “You know I can’t.” 

Sam looks at me for a long moment. Lucky for him, he’s saved from making any kind of decision or commitment by Josh breezing through the door. 

“You know, Matt doesn’t let me smack him around like he used to.” Josh instantly starts. He drops his back pack on the other chair and moves behind his desk walking right past Sam. “It’s like, all of the sudden he decided he wasn’t having as much fun as I was.” 

He finally looks up and one look at me tells him something’s up.

“What’s the matter? What happened?” He asks looking at me. 

“Nothing.” Sam says reflexively, but obviously that’s not going to fly.

“Donna?” He continues to look at me and my only thought right now is how much I like it when he looks at me. 

“Um...well, Josh...” 

Josh glances over at Sam and then back at me. I think there must have been a subtle hint there because Sam says, “You know what? I’m going to go. You take stuff like this better coming from Donna anyway.”

Josh’s eyes widen slightly as he watched Sam swiftly exit the office, closing the door behind him. 

“Whatever it is, it’s bad?” Josh asks me as soon as Sam’s out of the room.

“Well, you’re going to think it is.” 

I can see him start to get agitated and when he gets like this, I start to worry about his blood pressure.

“Donna, what the hell is going on?”

“Jonah’s here.” I blurt.

He blinks once and continues to look at me. “I don’t understand.” he finally says.

“Your brother Jonah is here. I don’t know what he’s doing here, but he’s in Leo’s office.”

Josh slowly sits down in his chair and looks out into the vacancy of the office behind me. “In this building?” 

I nod quickly. “I came back here before with Sam and he was here waiting for you. Leo just came by and brought him to his office.”

“He talked to you?” Josh asks sharply. 

“Just real quick.” I say. I don’t know why I suddenly feel the need to defend myself.

“Go home.” Josh says abruptly standing and looking down at his desk.

“What?” 

“Go home.” he repeats.

“What about you?” 

“I’m fine.”

“Josh, I really don’t want to leave you like...”

His eyes snap up to mine. “Like what?” 

“You just seem very angry.” 

“I’m not going to put my hand through a window, Donna.”

“I’m not suggesting you might.” I reply instantly. 

He looks at me for a long moment, then picks up his keys. “I’m going home, too.”

My eyes widen in surprise. “You’re not going to go talk to him?” I’m amazed. I can only imagine Jonah’s just returned from something pretty dangerous, and Josh doesn’t even want to go see how he is? 

“No, I’m not.” He walks out from behind my desk and takes me by the elbow. “In fact, I’ll take you home.” 

“Josh!” I stop and gape at him in surprise. I can’t believe he’s going to be like this. Josh doesn’t avoid anybody. His mother’s going to flip out.

“You’re the one that was worried about me, Donna. Are you coming or not?”

I tamp down the anger I’m beginning to feel towards him. That’s playing unfair right there. He knows he can play me like that and despite how pissed I might get, I’ll still give in. So, despite my better judgement, I leave the building with him.


	3. Prodigal Son, The

DONNA’S POV

We’ve been walking around for about an hour now. First, we lapped the Mall; then we headed over by the monuments, and now we’re lapping the Mall again. He hasn’t said a word, but I can see his mind working a mile a minute. The one thing he has done this whole time is hold my hand. I don’t know if he realizes he’s been doing it all this time, and I’m not about to say anything about it. I like it. I like it too much.

“Josh, is there anything at all you can tell about this?” I finally break the silence and he sighs deeply. “Joshua.” I prod. “This is me here.” 

He looks at me for a long moment.

“There’s not much to tell.” he shrugs. “Jonah fell in with a bad crowd in high school, which I didn’t think was possible at that time in Westport, but apparently, it was. He got into some pretty heavy drugs and made some really bad choices. It took three bouts of rehab for him to finally stay clean.” 

“Well, I can certainly see your disappointment there, Josh, but that’s not really something that’s unforgivable.” I hedge.

“That wasn’t it.” 

“You can’t tell me what it was?”

“I’m not even sure I’m that upset about the actual thing anymore, but there’s still just so much underlying anger left and I’ve spent so many years hating him that I don’t even know how to turn it around.” 

“You say, Jonah, I’m sorry.” 

“I’m not the one that fucked up!”

“You’re the one holding the grudge.”

“It’s more than that, Donna. It’s so much more.” 

“Josh, he’s come to see you. Do you think he’s trying to make it right?”

“He’s been trying to make it right since it happened, Donna!” he laughs without mirth. 

He falls silent again and we walk along. Finally, another thought occurs to me.

“Josh, you know whatever it is, it won’t change how I feel about you, right?” 

“What?” He stops dead and turns to look at me. I review what I said in my head. Oops. I wanted to say that a little more platonically. But, he doesn’t look like he’s too freaked out by my wording. Interesting.

“I mean, if it’s awful, I’m not going to stop liking you.” 

“I didn’t know you liked me now.” he smirks before resuming our stroll. 

“Well, you know, I don’t.” I say for appearances. “I mean in theory.” 

He chuckles and then something totally nuts happens. He moves his arm around my shoulders, gives me a half hug, kiss on the temple, and then drops his arm and takes my hand again. “I know.”

“I just don’t want to see you have any regrets, Josh. That’s not something you can get back when it’s gone.”

“Believe me when I say I know.” 

“I know you do, which is why I don’t understand.”

“It’s one of those things, Donna, that’s easier said than done. Wanna sit?” he says nodding over to a bench.

“Kay.” he tugs me over to sit down and even once we’re settled, he’s still got my hand, though now they’re resting on his leg. My hand likes it here. It’s nice.

“I feel weird, Josh. There’s a whole part of your life I know nothing about.”

“Oh, please.” he scoffs. “Don’t try to tell me that my mother hasn’t told you all about him.”

“Oh sure she has.” I nod. “But you never have. I don’t know anything about him from you. And I know all your demons.”

He looks me right in the eyes right now, and it’s an intense stare I feel all the way down to my toes. I actually get a shiver when he says, “Not all of them.” 

“Did he kill somebody for you?” I chuckle.

“No.” he immediately denies. 

“No?” I laugh. “Didn’t dump a body for you somewhere?”

“I changed my mind, I don’t want to sit.” he stands and tugs me with him again.

Ooookkkaaayyy.

We make our way slowly back to my apartment. I don’t live near him, so it takes us a while to get there. I walk up a few steps and stop, turn around and face him. I’m just going to lay it all on the table...well, most of it.

“Listen, Josh, I know we kid around, but I also know you know that I care a lot about you, and I mean it when I say there is absolutely nothing you will say to me that will change the way I feel. I mean it.”

“Thank you.” he says smiling slightly. 

“You’ve said some pretty horrible things in the past and here I stand.”

“Thank you for bringing that up.” 

“I’m just trying to prove my point.”

“You did that, like, five minutes ago.”

“Do you want to stay tonight?”

“Yes.” he doesn’t miss a beat. He’s really grown accustomed to my lightning changes of topic.

Either that or he was waiting for me to ask....

Naaahhh.

*****************************************

JOSH’S POV

Dammit, it’s about time she asked! Granted, I haven’t really been sending her the signals and I’m not drunk...

Actually, I’ve spent all this time holding her hand. That’s a signal, right? 

I didn’t intend to hold her hand all this time, but she didn’t seem overly inclined to let my hand go, so I went with it. I like spending time like this with Donna. She actually makes you think everything is going to be okay, you know?

And I can comfortably share silence with her. She’ll let me work something out in my head with little prodding. I mean, you saw, she did still prod, but not much and not for a while. 

She does know my demons, but she doesn’t know this one. Though, it more than likely wouldn’t come as a surprise to her. 

I don’t know if I can ever truly explain all this to her. I don’t know if I fully understand it myself anymore. It started out as something so cut and dry and morphed into something entirely different.

I vaguely remember Jonah visiting me in the hospital. I figured I had to be sicker than they were letting on if he was actually coming to see me. I mean, what else but my impending death would bring him to my bedside? Of course, I know that’s not true. I said that to my mother and if I wasn’t in ICU, I’m sure she would have punched me. 

Once we’re inside, Donna hands me what I’ve come to think of as my “drunk clothes.” They’re pajama pants and a t-shirt of mine that somehow made their way over here and she shoves them at me when I show up on her doorstep drunk. Much to her dismay, I head for her closet and liberate my Harvard sweatshirt. I don’t know what she’s so uppity about. Number one, it’s mine; number two, she’s just going to steal it back anyway. 

When I emerge from the bathroom all changed, she’s made up the couch for me. I drop down on it with a heavy thud. Donna’s couch is way more comfortable than mine. If I went back to my place, I’d probably get loaded and end up passed out on it. That, and by now, my brother has certainly figured out I left the building, so where do you think he’d be headed next? 

Eventually, I’m going to have to face the music. Probably as soon as I walk through the door and Leo hauls my ass to his office for the bitching out I deserve. I’m going to have to find out what it is he’s doing here. 

I can’t sleep. 

The apartment’s dark, but the moonlight provides enough light for me to make my way into Donna’s room. I sit down on a chair near her bed and watch her sleep. I used to do this when she stayed with me after I got out of the hospital, when I was trying to figure out what the purpose of all of it was. She’s very beautiful when she sleeps.

She’s very beautiful when she’s awake.

She’s probably downright gorgeous when she’s...nope, not going there tonight. 

After a few minutes, her eyes flutter open. 

Busted.

She smiles and holds her hand out to me. When I place my hand in hers, she gives me a little tug and I climb over her and snuggle in behind her, pulling her as close as I can get her. This is a first for us. But not surprisingly, we fit like a glove. 

More and more, I’ve been thinking about Donna like this. I’ve always been attracted to her, but I’ve always redirected those feelings. But lately, it’s been hard to, especially since everything that happened with Amy.

Donna’s always there. She’s there to celebrate with me and there to repair my injured pride, all with a gentle, unassuming hand. 

She’s been my rock since the day I met her. She’s been the one person in my life that I can’t label. Sure, on the face she’s my assistant. She’s also my friend. She’s also the one person I seek out whenever anything at all happens in my life be it good or bad. She’s the one person I need to see everyday in order to lead any semblance of a balanced life. When I do something good, she’s the first person I look for to share it with. When something bad happens, she’s the first person I’m concerned about.

Doesn’t that sound awfully like the person you love? 

More and more lately I’ve allowed myself to think of Donna in that way and relate to her in that capacity; tonight, I think she did the same.


	4. Prodigal Son, The

~MALLORY’S POV~

I swear and snap my cell phone shut. My father arches a brow at me.

“Sorry, daddy.” I say half-heartedly. “I got his voice mail.”

“Of course.” Jonah chuckles. 

“Page him, Daddy.” I insist.

“That’s reserved for matters of national security, Mallory.” My father reminds me. Please. The President riding his bike into a tree was a matter of national security? 

“It’s no big deal, Mal.” Jonah says. “I’d be surprised if he came here tonight.” 

“Contrary to what he thinks, he can’t hold a grudge forever.” I reply.

“Sure he can.” Jonah says. “He’s the most stubborn person on the planet.”

Sam chuckles.

“What?” Jonah asks.

“I find that description funny because Donna’s probably the most stubborn female on the planet.” Sam explains. I don’t know Donna well, so I can’t say whether or not that’s true, but if it is, it would serve Josh right.

“A match made in Heaven then.” Jonah says.

“It really is.” Sam defends.

“I didn’t say anything bad, Sam.” 

“I’m a little on the defensive, sorry.” Sam replies. “You showed up totally out of the blue...”

“What was so out of the blue about it?” my father joins in the conversation. “I ordered him here.”

“You did?” Sam and I chorus. 

“Yes.” my father nods.

“Why?” Sam asks.

“That’s not something you can know.” my father says to Sam. Sam gets a strange look on his face and sizes Jonah up a little more closely. Jonah decides to move the conversation away from seemingly dangerous waters.

“Are you still with that crappy hockey player?” he asks me. Apparently, he’d prefer much more dangerous waters than where he was previously sailing in.

“He’s not crappy.” I insist through my teeth. “He’s had a lot of injuries!”

“Maybe if he didn’t fall down so much.” Jonah laughs and Sam joins in. I shoot a death glare over to Sam.

“What? I TOLD you. You thought I was being jealous or something.” Sam says. “He’s a bad hockey player.”

“Dad!”

“What?” my father asks pretending to take no interest in the conversation that I can tell he is immensely enjoying. “Are they talking badly about Richard Upchuck?”

“Andrewchuck.” I growl at my father and Sam and Jonah laugh like a couple of boys, which it should be noted, is exactly what they are! 

“You three are ridiculous!” I scoff. “YOU,” I point my finger at Sam before rounding on the other two. “Are the voice of President. YOU are a decorated Naval Officer; and YOU Machiavelli Dad are the Chief of Staff of the United States. Would one of you PLEASE show a shred of maturity.” 

“Gee, Mally Cat, don’t throw a temper tantrum over it.” Jonah says failing to regain his composure. I hate when he and Josh call me Mally Cat. It’s a nickname they came up with a very long time ago and just kept calling me it because it annoys the hell out of me. But, I have to confess, it started to grow on me.

“I do not throw temper tantrums.”

“I disagree.”

“Disagree all you want, it’s not true.” 

“You always were cute when you got indignant.” he laughs. I look over at Sam, who seems a little uncomfortable with that remark. Good. He should have called me. Now, he can see what he’s missing. I slide a glance over to my father, who usually doesn’t take those kinds of remarks maturely either, and he doesn’t seem to be affected. Me and Jonah? Oh, ew! He’s like my little brother.

“I think you’re just like Sam.” I glare at Jonah. “You want good seats for home games.”

“Hey, that’s a good idea. I could sit right there next to him on the bench. He certainly spends enough time there.”

“You don’t even like hockey!”

“I do not, in fact, like hockey.” he confirms. “I do, however, get great satisfaction in pissing you off.”

“If your brother were here, he’d deflect all this for me.”

“Mallory.” My father warns.

“Well, he’s not.” Jonah replies. 

“Oh come on, dad.” I reply. “You’re not going to give Josh a hard time for bailing on his brother? I think it’s high time he just let it go already.”

“Let what go?” Sam asks and Jonah shoots me a look.

“All of it.” I say. 

“Jonah’s not actually here to see Josh.” my father says. “Sam, don’t you have work to do?”

“I guess.” Sam says rising out of his chair. “Mallory, always a pleasure; Jonah, always a mystery.” Then Sam leaves the room and my father levels his gaze on me.

“Oh, this is my cue?” I ask innocently.

“And close the door, please, on your way out.” my father nods. Well, there’s a fine, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.

I rise out of my chair and my father and Jonah stand, too. Gentlemen, both of them. A dying breed. I kiss my father on the cheek and then do the same to Jonah. 

“It really is good to see you, Jonah.” I smile. “I worry about you when you’re off in parts unknown.”

“I’m always in parts unknown.” he smirks.

“Good night.” I say. I start to pull the door shut behind me as my father and Jonah settle back in their chairs.

“So, Jonah,” I hear my father say. “Tell me everything you’ve heard on the ground about Abdul Shareef.”

****************************************

~JOSH’S POV~

When I finally wake up, the first thing I notice is that I am not alone in the bed. The second thing I notice is that I’m not in my bed.

I smile as I feel Donna curled up against me. Not a bad way to wake up. 

She shifts a bit and her eyes slowly open.

“Morning.” she smiles. God, I love her morning voice!

“Morning.” I smirk back. 

“Guess I don’t need to call you to wake you up this morning.” 

“No, this’ll do.” I smirk and she rolls her eyes. When she makes eye contact with me, she glances down at my lips and back to my eyes.

Oh no.

Noooooooo, no, no, no, no.

Can’t go there. Can’t kiss the assistant. Waking up with the assistant really was bad enough, nevermind my little epiphany of last night. Accepting the fact that I’m in love with her does not change the fact that I can’t kiss her. 

Well, maybe just a little kiss....

No, Josh! Move away from the assistant.

“I should go home so I can get ready.” I squeak. There’s a pain in my chest as I watch her face fall. I think she feels like she just got rejected. I don’t want her to feel like that. I press a kiss to her forehead and hug her tightly. “Thank you.” I say softly. “For listening. You always seem to make everything better.”

“Sure.” she nods, but she looks like she’s about to cry anyway.

“Donna...”

“It’s okay, Josh.” she says quickly.

“No, I’m not done talking yet.” I reply. “It’s just I wanted you to know that I care a lot about you, too. And what you said last night meant a lot.” That could still fall under the category of platonic right?

Okay, barely.

“I’m always here, Josh.”

And I love you for it. Her eyes widen a bit. Wait? Did I say that out loud? I don’t think I did.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” she asks. “You look a little off.”

“I’m fine.” I nod.

“Because I can get ready quick and then give you a ride over to your place. You don’t have your car here, remember?”

“Oh right.” I reply. That could prove problematic in getting to work on time this morning. 

“All right. Let’s do that.” she nods and rolls out of bed. Damn, I’m kind of cold now. “Leo’s probably annoyed that you left last night, so you probably don’t want to be late this morning.”

“Oh sure, because I’m anxious to get bitched at.”

She disappears into the bathroom and I fall back against the pillows. 

We’re fighting a crazy re-election battle both against the Republicans AND a lot of Democrats, my brother pops up completely unexpectedly and now his existence is out in the open with Donna, not that I could ever really deny it, and I’ve figured out I’m in love with my assistant. 

It’s shaping up to be a hell of a day.


	5. Prodigal Son, The

~LEO’S POV~

“I figured I’d come in before staff so you could get your yelling in.” Josh says from my doorway.

“I’m not your family counselor, Josh.” I say sifting through the files on my desk for staff. “I don’t care if you blow your brother off. Though Mallory did, and I’ll put money on the fact that she probably called your mother after she left here last night, which means you’ve got a whole other problem.”

“I can handle my mom.” he says defiantly and I laugh at him. I’m sorry. It’s funny. He really can’t handle his mother. Noah couldn’t handle Sara Lyman. In fact, put together, Noah, Jonah and Josh were still no match for Sara Lyman. 

“Something came up.” Josh blatantly lies. Uh-huh. And that something is more like a leggy, blonde someONE, I think. “Was he pissed?”

I look up at him and take my glasses off. Was that remorse? That almost sounded like remorse. 

“He didn’t seem overly surprised.” I say and put my glasses back on, then go back to my files. I’m not really paying any attention to anything in front of me. This is all diversionary tactics for Josh. I need Jonah. And given what the President and I are about to ask Jonah to do, I need for Jonah to not have any regrets. That means Josh needs to bite the bullet and I need to play dirty to make that happen.

“He wasn’t pissed he came all this way to see me and I blew him off?” his voice got a little high there at the end.

“He didn’t come to see you, Josh.” I explain. “I asked him to come.”

“Why?”

I stop and look up at him. “I can’t tell you that.” 

“You’re going to make him do something dangerous?” he takes a step towards me. He’s starting to look a little concerned.

“I don’t know if ‘make’ is the best word there, Josh.”

“If it comes out of the President’s mouth, it’s an order and that falls under ‘make.’ Leo, what’s going on?”

I look back down at my desk. “He did want to see you, Josh. He waited for a while.”

“Is he....gone....already?”

“No. He wouldn’t be leaving for at least a few weeks.” I say. 

“Oh, okay then. I’ll just go get what I need for staff.” Josh says starting to slowly back out of the room.

“Josh?”

“Yeah?” he quickly walks back in.

“If you’re wondering, he’s up at Patuxent River.” 

“He’s staying in Annapolis?” 

“We do have a base there.” I remind him. “There is some training involved in what he’s doing next.”

“I just assumed he’d be doing that in California.”

“We need him closer than NWC.”

“Okay.” he nods. “Good to know.” He leaves the office looking a little distracted.

Yes, I know I’m not playing fair. But if you ask me, neither is Josh. I don’t know what happened between him and Jonah, but I’ve known them both long enough to know that Josh seems to be drifting now when the subject of his brother comes up and Jonah has been desperate to fix whatever it is for years. 

Jonah is definitely among the elite in the SEAL teams and that’s saying something because the SEALs are ONLY the elite of the Navy. They don’t even make up one percent of naval personnel. Nobody over there is an “okay” Seal. Jonah’s got a little bit of a different edge to him. I saw it first when he was in the Naval Academy. It’s like he stared down the face of death before and won, so why not make a living out of it? Some people are just lucky like that, I guess. 

He’s coming to the end of his tenure as a Seal though. He’s getting a little too old, but he’s got a few more good missions left in him. I’m not sure what he’ll do after that for the Navy. He likes that edge. That’s his drug.

He’s got a string of failed relationships behind him. I think the not knowing what he does for a living thing is a bit of a deterrent. That comes off as kind of shady. It’s not like the SEALs are a big secret anymore, nor where they train, but when you’re special forces, you don’t tell people you’re special forces and you’re supposed to tell them you’re stationed somewhere you’re not. There is some level of secrecy to the whole thing.

Plus, he told me once that romantic entanglements make guys lose their edge. Suddenly, they have something to lose. Suddenly, they have something to leave behind and someone to mourn for them. Of course, his mother’s already lost one child, nearly lost another one, and Jonah’s been no piece of cake, but I guess he sees it a little differently.

My senior staff slowly wanders in having their own little conversations and Josh looks a little distracted. I won’t give him anything too important now then. His mind is obviously somewhere else at the moment. Right where I need it to be. Wait until he hears what I have in store for him after staff.

*************************************

~JOSH’S POV~

I have no idea what just happened in senior staff. I’m not even sure how long we’ve been sitting here. I know I partook in some conversations, but I really don’t remember if I made any sort of substantial contribution.

I can’t get my mind off of what the President and Leo might be asking Jonah to do. I mean, I can imagine. I’m pretty highly placed in the government and I have a working knowledge of what special forces teams do. But to be handpicked by them for something? It’s got to be huge, but at the same time very small and covert. Does that make any sense?

My problem is, in my anger, I’ve already mourned Jonah. Ever since we started here and my security clearance kicked in and I got briefings on missions, I knew that was my brother out there and he could very easily be that one casualty in the mission the team always seems to experience. So, I stopped thinking about him. When there are missions going on in the situation room, I don’t wonder if it’s Jonah. I push him entirely from my mind. 

So, despite all that, when he pops up healthy and okay, it elicits feelings of relief and anger again. 

“Josh, stay behind.” Leo orders as the others stand up to leave. Looks like my lack of attention did not go unnoticed. “I have some campaign stuff for you.” Or, maybe it did. 

Once the others are gone, Leo turns his attention to me.

“After the rally next week in Florida, you’re going to take a couple of days and go see your mother.” Leo says. “She’s asking for you. She also asked me if Donna could come, too.”

“Why?” Not that I’m upset by this development.

“I don’t know, Josh.” he shrugs. “She likes her; she thinks she’s going to be her daughter-in-law one day.”

This little quip makes me practically choke.

“What!?” I yelp in a most unmanly way. “LEO!”

“Save it.” he says rolling his eyes. “Nobody around here is as stupid as you think they are.”

“There’s nothing going on.” I say quickly.

“No, but there should be. So take her to your mother’s with you.” 

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.” 

I will not question my good fortune right now. I have permission to date my assistant. I will not blow this chance. I will resist the urge to run like Jesse Owens back to my office and kiss the hell out of said assistant. I’m thinking I should probably add a little romance.

“What do you know that I don’t?” 

“Josh, the pure tonnage...”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I wave off. “I mean about my mother’s request for a visit.”

“Well, let’s see.” he starts. “You’re her son. I think that’s about it.” 

“It’s not an ambush for my brother? Get me alone with him before he leaves for wherever he’s going?” 

He stops and looks at me incredulously. “Are you kidding me?”

“Um...no?”

“Josh, I’ve got a lot more important things to do with my time than conspire with your mother to get you alone in a room with your brother. I can make that happen by walking into the Oval Office and having the President order you two locked in a room together. I don’t know what happened; your mother doesn’t know what happened; Sam doesn’t know what happened. Only you and your brother know what happened and neither one of you are talking.”

That’s not entirely accurate. There’s one other person that knows exactly what happened.


	6. Prodigal Son, The

~DONNA’S POV~

I sigh heavily as I scroll through the research before me on Josh’s computer. 

“Am I distracting you?” Mallory asks from her visitor’s chair.

“No, not at all.” I smile as politely as I can. After all, she’s my boss’s daughter and is practically a sister to Josh...and apparently Jonah. Most of Sara’s stories of Josh and Jonah as children have Mallory in them. I’m not overall a fan of Mallory myself. I think she’s a little bitchy. Well, maybe not so much bitchy as spoiled. Yes, she’s definitely spoiled by every man that knows her.

“Are you sure?” she asks.

“It’s fine. I’m just reading.” 

“Do you like working for Josh, Donna?” she asks. So much for not wanting to distract me.

I stop and look over at her curiously. “Yes. Why?” 

“Just curious.” she shrugs. “Before you, he never really had an assistant and he talks about you a lot.”

This is interesting.

“What does he say?” I try to sound like I’m only mildly curious, but I don’t think it’s working. Mallory smiles slowly before responding.

“That he’d probably be dead if it wasn’t for you.” she says. “That he’d certainly be lost in his job without you. But mostly that he’s afraid of disappointing you.” 

Afraid of disappointing me? Josh? Josh of the big ego? That’s not my Josh. If anything, I’ve disappointed him in the past, certainly not the other way around.

“Well, that’s impossible.” I reply and try to get back to my work. 

“He cares about you a lot, Donna.” she continues choosing not to take my hint. Josh and I had a strange moment in bed this morning, and if you think that description alone doesn’t trip me out, you’d be massively wrong, but so I’m a little curious as to what she has to say.

Okay. I’m consumed by it.

“Since you two met, I could hear it in his voice. You really make him happy.” she says lightly.

“Really?” I confess I smile like a smitten 15 year old. 

“This is a mortifying conversation.” comes Himself’s voice from the doorway.

“Josh!” I squeak. I’m about to pop out of the chair but he walks in and pushes me back down by the shoulder as he passes the chair. 

“It’s perfectly innocent.” Mallory says angelically. 

“Yeah, nothing with you has ever been innocent, Mal.” Josh says dryly. “What can I do for you this morning?” 

“Where the hell were you last night?” she immediately demands.

Josh throws a glance in my direction before he answers, “Out.” 

“Your brother’s in town.”

“No kidding.”

“He wanted to see you.”

“He’s not here to see me.”

“Oh, and seeing his big brother, whom he idolizes by the way, couldn’t be considered a perk.” she shoots back. Mallory really gets in Josh’s face with stuff like this. I guess it helps to have that history with him. I know what I can get in his face on. I don’t necessarily ignore things like this, but I definitely tend to tread a little light.

“What are you doing here?” he sighs, running a hand down his face.

“Let’s go to that new seafood place by your apartment.”

“No way.” Josh says emphatically.

“Come on.” she pleads. “I swear I won’t name the lobsters in the tank.”

“You say that every time, and every time, you do.” 

“I won’t this time.” she promises, though not believably. “Take me to dinner and I’ll tell you all the points in which you’re wrong with your brother.”

“Do I get to counter them with all the points of why Andrewchuck is a crappy hockey player?” he replies.

“He’s been injured!”

“He falls down!”

“Josh!”

“I have plans, Mallory.” he says finally.

Oh. My. God. He’s got plans?

“You have a date?” she asks.

“Something like that.” he shrugs. 

I feel the breath rush out of my chest. Are you kidding me? After all that last night? After this morning, he freaking lets me think all that and he says all that and he’s got a fucking date!? 

“Fine. But you’re not off the hook.” she says sternly to him. “Bye, Donna.”

“Bye.” I manage to croak out as she breezes out of the office. I rise up, ready to make an abrupt departure, but he grabs me by the elbow.

“Donna.”

“I...can’t...” I say between breaths.

“Are you okay?” 

Not remotely. “Fine.” 

“Are you busy tonight?”

What?

“What?” 

“Do you have plans tonight? I wanted to see if you wanted to go out.”

I feel the life return to my body. “Really?” 

“Yeah.” he nods with a bright grin. 

“You want to go out with me?” 

“Yes, and we can discuss what you need to pack.”

“Pack?”

“After the rally in Florida, Leo’s shipping us off to my mother’s for a few days.”

“Us? As in you and me?” This is....interesting.

“My mother’s requested our presence and Leo said it was okay.”

“She wants me to go, too?” 

“Yes.” he nods.

“Why?” 

“I guess we’ll find out when we get there.” he smiles slowly. 

Suddenly, I’m giddy. A few days alone with Josh away from the White House is incredibly tempting, even if it is at his mother’s. I can’t remember the last time a guy has made me feel giddy. 

“Your mom’s got that big pool.” I say dropping my voice and taking a step closer to him. “I could bring my bikini.” 

“I don’t think you’ll need it.” he leers back.

Wow. I was trying to unnerve him, but he totally turned the tables on me! Skinny dipping with Josh away from anyone from the White House that could bust us? 

Is it hot in here?


	7. Prodigal Son, The

~DONNA’S POV~

Sara Lyman squeals as she opens the door and yanks us inside. “Joshua! Oh, and Donna! I can’t believe you actually came.”

“Save it, mom.” Josh says sternly. “You talked to Leo.” 

“Well, it’s not like you would have had the idea on your own, Joshua.” she waves off. I love Josh’s mother. We got pretty close when she came to Washington after he got shot. I love how she just completely blows his attitude off. One day I aspire to handle Josh the way she does. 

“Come on.” she says motioning for us to follow her. “Jonah’s in his room; and Josh, I’ve set you and Donna up in yours at the end.”

“I should have known.” Josh mutters.

“I’m sorry, dear. Did you say something?”

Uh-oh. Looks like Sara is doing a little family espionage. 

Wait a minute.

Did she say she set me and Josh up in the same room? Once we enter the back bedroom, I see one bed. I look over at Josh, who is looking at his mother pointedly, who is looking the picture of innocence. 

Me. Josh. One bed. 

This has possibilities. “Get changed and meet us out at the pool.” Sara directs before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Josh laughs and shakes his head. “I’m sorry.” He has the good grace to apologize.

“For?” I drop down onto the bed and lean back onto my hands.

“This.” he says waving his hand around the room. 

“Oh, I don’t know.” I say, running my hand along the bedspread. Just to mess with him, I make a big show of sizing up the bed and pushing down firmly on the mattress a few times. “I don’t think it’s such a bad set up.” 

I grin widely as I watch him swallow hard.

“So, you’re okay with this?” he squeaks.

“Yes. You?”

“Oh, I’m okay with it.”

“What about Leo?” I finally voice my main concern here. 

“Leo’s okay with it.”

“He is?”

He nods. 

“Leo said, ‘Josh, it’s okay for you to go to Florida and have sex with your assistant?’”

“DONNA!” I swear he just blushed right down to his toes. I won. 

“What?” I ask wide eyed.

“I wasn’t expecting you to say something like that.” 

“I’m just giving as good as I get.” I shrug. 

“We need to stop talking like this.” he says running a hand down his face.

“Your brother is here.” I change the subject. “Are you going to be okay with that?”

“My mother does this all the time.” he said waving it off. 

“This might be a good opportunity for you to talk to him over the next few days.” I suggest hesitantly.

“Donna, I confess I’m more interested in what I can be doing with you over the next few days.”

“Really?” I smile. 

“I’ve got plans.” he says dropping the volume of his voice to a rather pleasant level. He starts walking towards me and I start to shiver in anticipation.

“JOSHUA!” shrieks his mother’s voice. “What the hell is taking you so long!?” 

He stops, drops his head and sighs. I giggle in response. I push myself off the bed and pat him on the shoulder as I walk by. “Come on, Tiger. Let’s go relax by the pool.”

“Like that’s going to happen.” He grabs his suitcase and disappears into the bathroom as I try to stop my mind from imagining the many wonderful things that were about to happen.

*************************************

~JOSH’S POV~

“That was amazing.” Donna says as my brother finally reemerges from the bottom of the pool and shrugs. “You were down there a really long time. I almost thought we were going to have to jump in and save you.”

Yeah, he’d be real heartbroken after that, I’m sure.

“I spent eight weeks in a SCUBA tank.” he shrugs. Show off. “That’s nothing compared to the actual swim training.” I can’t blame him. She’s in quite the skimpy bikini right now. There’s a lot of skin showing. Donna tends to do this to men. Not that she’s ever done it to me....much...

“What do you have to do?” she asks.

“We get tossed into a 9 foot pool where we have to bob for five minutes, float for five minutes, swim 100 meters, bob for two more minutes, do some forward and back flips, then swim to the bottom of the pool and retrieve something with our teeth, then resurface and bob five more times.”

“Doesn’t sound too hard.” Donna shrugs.

“We do it with our hands and feet bound.”

“O- oh.” she says. 

“Oh, and we have to swim two miles a day in the ocean regardless of the weather or temperature.”

“That’s inhumane!”

“It’s drown proofing.” he shrugs again. “I have to do underwater demolition sometimes.” 

“How long do you train for?” 

“Initially? 30 months just to become a SEAL, but when we’re not out on missions, we’re training extensively. A day doesn’t go by when I’m not parachuting out of a plane or doing the obstacle course from hell or the two mile ocean swim.”

“Wow.” she says amazed. She should be actually. It’s pretty impressive stuff. “So, how does it work? How are you broken down? Do you have, like, platoons?”

“Sure.” Jonah says getting out of the pool and running a towel through his hair. “There’s eight SEAL teams all together and each team has six platoons of 16 SEALs that have two officers, that’s me, one chief and 13 enlisted guys. Sometimes there’s two squads, too, depends. You’re either stationed on the East Coast or the West Coast. I was in California, but now I’m in Virginia.”

“You were transferred?” I ask suddenly sitting up. Donna and Jonah both seem a little surprised that I’m taking a sudden interest in the conversation. 

“Yeah.” he nods. 

“Because of whatever the President wants you to do?” 

“Sort of.” he shrugs. “It’s also easier to get down here when I’m home if I’m on the East Coast. I’m also closer to my brother if I’m in Virginia.” he adds pointedly.

“It’ll be exciting having you so close!” Donna gushes. “Won’t it, Josh?”

“Yeah.” I say, flipping my sunglasses down and laying back down. 

“You know, my friend Ginger would be perfect for you!”

“No, Donna.” I immediately say. 

“I’m not really boyfriend material.” Jonah replies.

“What do you mean? Girls would go nuts for this stuff.”

“Sure, in the beginning. But I don’t tend to get too attached and they don’t really understand that.”

“Oh.” she says. She sounds disappointed on Ginger’s behalf.

“Jonah!” my mother calls from the house. “Get in here and help me with dinner!” 

“Duty calls.” my brother smiles before disappearing into the house. 

“That sounds like pretty intensive stuff.” Donna says turning in her chair to face me.

“It is. Only 25 percent make it through.”

“How can you not be proud of him?” she demands suddenly. 

I sit up and face her and pull my sunglasses off and she slides hers up on her head. “I am.” I nod simply. 

“But you never talk about it.” 

“Donna, it’s...” I start, but I’m suddenly cut off in the form of Donna’s lips on mine. She grabs me by the shirt and yanks me to her. While it was aggressive in its initiation, the kiss is anything but. It’s soft and reassuring. She climbs over onto my lounge chair and lets me take control. She sighs softly when I change the angle and her hand comes gently up to my face. A shiver runs up my spine, despite the Florida heat. 

“What brought that on?” I ask softly when we finally break the most amazing kiss of my life. 

She shakes her head at me and keeps her hand on my face. “I care about you so much, Josh, and I just want you to have no doubts whatsoever that I won’t leave you. You’re holding back, and it hurts that you don’t trust me.”

“I do trust you.” 

“Not completely, Josh. Not with this.” 

I look down at her and sigh. Her endless blue eyes are sparkling up at me with unshed tears. Donna hates to see any kind of pain from me. The only way to fix that, is to unburden the pain. That’s usually done by sharing it with her. 

“All right.” I lean down and kiss her softly again, then tip my forehead against hers. “All right. I’ll tell you what happened.”


	8. Prodigal Son, The

“Josh!” Mallory hissed from the darkness outside the house. Josh looked in the direction of the sound of her voice and squinted to try and see. 

“Where are you?” He asked the void.

“By the garage.” 

Josh walked over to Leo and Jenny’s garage where Mallory was hovering by the side door.

“What are you doing out here? The party’s inside.” 

“Yeah, I don’t know that I can go in yet.” she said.

“Mallory, your father was appointed the Secretary of Labor. It’s a big deal, all his friends are in there. You have to go in.” Josh said gesturing back to the house. 

“Yeah, but Jonah...” she started and trailed off. Josh needed no further explanation.

“Where is he?” Josh immediately demanded.

“In the garage.” Mallory sighed.

Josh pushed past her into the McGarry’s very large garage. “Jonah!” Josh called moving past the several expensive cars. 

“Hey, big brother!” a voice sang from the back corner.

Josh sighed when he came upon his brother, laying down on the floor on a sleeping bag. 

“You’re wasted.” Josh said flatly.

“There was something of a tailgate party.” Jonah nodded in agreement. “I called Mallory earlier. She didn’t want to come.” 

“I should hope not. Her father’s the newly appointed Secretary of Labor. She can’t be seen hanging around your friends.” 

“You think I should have called Leo and asked him instead?”

Mallory squeaked and clamped a hand over her mouth, her eyes welling up with tears.

“Jonah, that was incredibly inappropriate. Apologize to Mallory.” Josh said forcefully. 

“Mally Cat knows I’m kidding around.” Jonah laughed. “Right, Mally Cat?”

“She hates when you call her that.” Josh replied. 

“She can speak for herself!” Jonah retorted.

“You only call me that when you’re loaded.” Mallory said, her voice oozing with disapproval. 

“Which I thought we’d never see again.” Josh replied.

“You’re ganging up on me?” Jonah accused stumbling to his feet. “It’s just a couple of pills and a couple of drinks! You’re acting like I was booting heroin or something!” 

“Which you’ve also done before.” Josh reminded him.

“Jonah,” Mallory pleaded. “You were doing so well this second time around. This is the hard part, being around people who are drinking and having a good time. Once you learn to get past this, you can do anything.” 

“Oh, like you know about hard stuff.” Jonah slurred. “You’ve lead a charmed life since the day you were born. Your father just got appointed to the President’s cabinet, for God’s sake. Like THAT’S not going to open a few hundred more doors.” 

“Oh, and you’ve had such a rough life.” Mallory spat back. “Your father’s the most successful litigator New York City’s ever seen. You’ve never wanted for anything. You grew up with some of the richest families in America. Your parents have given you every opportunity in life and everything you ever wanted, and THIS is how you repay them, Jonah? This is the thanks you give them? You’re a disgrace!”

“Oh, I know.” Jonah laughed. “I’ve always been. Always living in my brother’s shadow. Always second best to the great Joshua.”

“That’s not true.” Mallory insisted.

“Oh, yes it is.” Jonah continued with the same hollow laugh. “Do you know my parents have never answered any of my questions about Joanie for fear it might upset Josh? There was a sister that because of HIM, I never even got the chance to meet!” 

Silence descended on the garage for a heated moment.

“God!” Jonah yelled pressing his palms to his eyes. “I can’t even see anymore.” 

“Jonah.” Mallory breathed in appalled shock. She looked over at Josh. All the color had drained from his face and his jaw was firmly set. His eyes radiated anger and his body was completely tense, his hands forming fists.

“Jonah David Lyman.” he said evenly and without emotion. “I am done with you.” 

He turned and stormed out of the garage. Jonah fell to the floor, tears streaming down his face. 

“Oh, Jonah.” Mallory said through her tears, as he passed out cold onto the hard concrete floor.


	9. Prodigal Son, The

~DONNA’S POV~

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whisper stunned. When Josh decided to tell me the story, he dragged me into the back bedroom so we’d have some privacy. Somewhere during the story, I had picked up his hand and gently started stroking it. What a horrible time for all three of them that must have been.

“I couldn’t tell anyone. It was like the one thing I thought everyone thought, but nobody wanted to say. Nobody wanted to say out loud that the fire was my fault and it was my fault that she was gone. He was out of his mind when he said it, Donna. He doesn’t even remember it. But I just thought, drunks and children always tell the truth.”

“You know it’s not true.”

“I do now. But when you’re the one that lived, and someone gives voice to your biggest fear, it took a long time and a lot of therapy to get to that point.” 

“You’ve GOT to make it right with him, Josh. He’s got a dangerous job. If something happens to him, you will never forgive yourself.”

“I know that.” he says. “But there’s just all this extra crap now. The things I’ve said to him over the years, Donna, some of them have been just as awful. I wanted to hurt him the way he hurt me and the worst part is, I was consciously doing it. He was so high and drunk that night that he has absolutely no recollection of the entire evening. I can remember every horrible thing I’ve ever said to him.” 

“Josh, he doesn’t care.” I say. “Can’t you see how much he loves you? You’ve said those things and he’s still here, wanting to spend time with you, wanting to be a part of your life.” 

“I know. I know.” he nods. “I just don’t know how to start. I don’t know what to say. After all these years, I have no idea who my brother is now.”

“He’s your brother.” I say firmly. “That’s a good place to start. You’ll know your opening when you see it.”

He looks over at me. He eyes leisurely wandering over my face. I can’t tell what he’s thinking; I can only imagine. That’s a horrible memory to be carrying around; horrible for all three of them. Jonah and Mallory seem to have made their peace, but Josh and Jonah never got past it and it seems like Jonah has spent the rest of his life so far trying to get Josh’s attention and approval. And here Jonah goes and gets the most dangerous job he could find. 

Neither one of these brothers knows the other very well.

“Thank you for trusting me.” I whisper. 

“If I can’t tell you, Donna, I can’t tell anyone.”

“What’s going on with us, Josh?” I mean, I know we’ve gotten more physical, or a little more physical and intend to get a lot more physical, but I’m not sure what any of it means.

“It feels an awful lot like we’re about to move to the next level.”

“Yeah, but what is that?” I ask for clarification. “Is it a Florida fling or...”

“No, of course not.” he cuts me off. He cocks his head to the side and looks at me for a second. “How could you not know I’m in love with you?” 

Whoa! Seriously? 

“You are?” I hedged. 

“Donna, since I met you, I’ve had three different attempts at relationships and none of them have worked because those women weren’t you. They weren’t...real. You’re real, Donna. WE’RE real.”

“I love you, too.” I whisper. I laugh at the goofy grin on his face and brush way the tears from my eyes. 

He moves very, very slowly towards me. It’s almost like he’s afraid that if he kisses me, I’ll bite him or something instead. When he finally closes the distance, I’m crying against the kiss. I just can’t believe after four years, I’m the one he wants. I’ve loved him since I met him. He’s never been anything else to me. 

I throw my head back as he trails kisses up and down my neck. I’m overcome with the sudden desperation to feel him kiss me everywhere. It’s not long before what little clothing we were wearing is gone. When he makes love to me, all I see are his truly unburdened eyes. I’ve never seen his eyes without the wall up in front of them, and they’re beautiful. I only hope he sees the same love from mine.

Somewhere in the back of our minds, we remember we’re at his mother’s house. Otherwise, I have a feeling we’d be screamers. 

As I’m recovering from the most amazing physical experience of my life, he’s studying me. I suddenly feel very self-conscious.

“What?” I ask nervously, running my hand over what must be monstrous bed head. 

“You really are gorgeous like this.” he says softly. “I thought you would be.”

“You’ve pictured me in your head like this!?” I shriek and he nods, his boyish mischievous shining through. “You pig!” 

“Hey!” he jokes. “Those are my fond fantasies!” 

“Fantasies!?” 

“Oh, you didn’t?”

“Women don’t fantasize; they day dream.”

“Yeah right.” he scoffs.

“Joshua! Donna! Dinner!” his mother calls from the kitchen. He kisses me again before we roll out of bed and get dressed, and then one more time at the door. I have a feeling there’s an early bedtime on the schedule tonight.


	10. Prodigal Son, The

~JOSH’S POV~

I wander out into the kitchen early the next morning. I can’t believe I’m even up at the insane hour of 5:30 after all the exertion of last night.

Oh yeah, my friends.

Me. Donna. Three times.

Somehow, I’m not surprised to see my brother in the kitchen with coffee and a paper. I feel kind of strange around him now. I look at him and wonder who this man is. 

He is a man now, and I completely missed it happen. Did the Navy do it? Or did it happen before he joined the Navy?

“How long do you have here, Jonah?” I ask, clearing my throat. 

“I go back to Washington this morning.” he replies not looking up from his paper. “I go straight to the White House, and then I leave.” he finally meets my eyes. I know he knows I know what sort of mission he’s going to. He’s being asked by the President to lead whatever it is. They want him specifically, who is literally the best of the best. It’s highly classified, highly dangerous, and just possibly might be breaking international law.

“This morning? Does mom know?”

“I told her last night.” He replies, then grins over his cup. “AFTER you went to bed. I was going to tell you, too, but I didn’t realize you turn in so early.”

“Well, you see what an early riser I am.” I smirk. He, of course, doesn’t buy a word of it.

“Sorry I just dropped that transfer on you like that.” he says.

“Oh, I don’t know.” I say looking down into my coffee mug. “It might not be so bad.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No.” I shrug. “You’ve charmed the pants right off Donna.”

“Oh, I’m not the brother that charmed her pants off exactly.”

“No, I guess that one’s on me.”

“She’s amazing, Josh. You’re lucky. Don’t lose her.” 

“I spend every day terrified of that very thing.” I confess.

“Maybe you need to let go of some the fear.” he says simply. I look over at him and he looks away. “She loves you, Josh. Let go of the fear and enjoy it.” He stands up and hits me on the shoulder as he goes by. “I’ve got to swim for a bit.” he says leaving the kitchen and heading outside to the pool.

I move to the kitchen window and sit down, watching him dive into the pool. He doesn’t resurface, but I can see him doing laps under the water. As I watch him, I think about the man he’s become. I also think he’s been underwater a really long time! Donna’s right. That IS amazing.

I don’t know where he’s going, but I know it’s dangerous. I should be very scared for him. I should be terrified, but there’s a sense of pride instead that they’ve picked him to be the one to do whatever it is they’ve asked him to do. The President of the United States has put his trust in my brother, and now I’m doing the same. 

I just hope nothing happens before I get the chance to get to know him.

Donna comes shuffling into the kitchen yawning, and looking delightfully mussed up. She pours herself of a cup of coffee and comes over to me. She sits on my lap and looks out the window.

“What the hell are you looking at?” she demands.

“My brother. He’s in the pool.”

“He is?” She squints to try and see better.

“He’s underwater. He’s been in there ten minutes and only came up once.”

“Creepy frogman.” she mumbles into her mug and I chuckle. Donna’s not typically a morning person, which sucks for her, given the time she has to wake up each morning.

“He’s leaving today.” I say softly.

“Leaving leaving?”

“DC and then wherever it is he’s going.”

She looks out across the lanai to the pool, where he’s still under water. “God speed, Jonah,” she whispers. 

*************************************

~DONNA’S POV~

Sara and I follow Jonah out to the cab. I haven’t seen Josh in a little while. He’s inside somewhere, hiding from having to say goodbye, I’m sure. Josh isn’t so much a goodbye person. I can’t say I blame him. 

I’ll have to remember to thank Leo profusely for this weekend. Jonah’s great, and I’m glad I’ve gotten this chance to get to know him. Josh seems a little off kilter this morning, but then again, it was a big weekend for him personally. That’s bound to be freaking him out a bit. I see a call to Stanley in his future. That may be what he’s doing now.

Jonah hugs me first, then his mother. She holds on for a while. She’s probably sending up the same prayer that this isn’t the last time we get to hug him. He’s just about to get in the car when Josh comes bounding out of the house. 

“Jonah!” he calls. “Jonah, wait!”

Jonah tosses his bag into the cab and closes the door. He walks a few steps towards his brother, but Josh comes the whole way.

“Jonah, I...” he begins. He blows a breath out and stands there a moment. Sara sucks a breath in next to me and grabs hold of my hand. “I don’t know what you have to go do, but...be careful.” My eyes well up with tears and my free hand covers my mouth. 

“I always am, big brother.” Jonah smirks back. 

“I know you are.” Josh says. “But be REALLY careful.” And then he hugs him, and Sara cries, and it goes on for a while. 

When they finally break apart, Jonah hugs his mom again and then stops at me. He hugs me for a second time, too, and when he breaks apart, he says something very softly. “There’s only one person in this world worthy of you, Donna, and it’s him. Take care of him.”

“I always do.” I smile. “Come see us when you get back.” 

“Oh, I’m sure the White House will want to talk to me.” he smirks, then disappears into the cab. Josh’s arms circle me from behind and he rests his chin on my shoulder as the three of us watch Jonah’s cab pull away. We watch until it’s out of sight.

“Joshua...” his mom gushes.

“Don’t mom.” He orders. “Just don’t.”

“Oh, Joshua!” she continues anyway, pulling him away from me and hugging him tightly. Josh rolls his eyes. “You’ve forgiven him.” 

“Come on, mom! Donna’s watching this. This is embarrassing.” 

I love that he’s like. I love that he still feels like a dork over stuff like that. He knows, of course, that he’s always cool to me, especially when I get to see him with his mother, but I like that he doesn’t want to look uncool in front of me. 

“I’m just so happy!” his mother says. 

“Be happy when he comes back, mom.” Josh says. 

“When he comes back, we should celebrate with a wedding!”

I burst out laughing and clamp a hand over my mouth.

“I didn’t think he was seeing anyone.” Josh is blissfully clueless.

“Not his! Yours!” his mother scolds.

“Mine!” his eyes widen and he looks over at me....laughing at him. “Mom!” I know the mortification in his eyes is over the fact that his mother is saying all this right in front of me and not over marrying me. He looks at me different now. He looks at me and I see forever.


	11. Prodigal Son, The

~JOSH’S POV~

“Josh!” Sam calls when he sees me signing in in the lobby.

“Hey, Sam.”

“How was Florida?”

“Excellent!”

Sam does a double take. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Wasn’t your brother there?”

“Yes, he was.” I confirm. “AND he’s being temporarily transferred to Virginia.”

“O-oh.” Sam hesitates.

“It’s a good thing, Sam. I’m happy about it.” I say.

“You are?” He grins and I nod. “That’s great.”

“It is.”

“Wow!” 

We enter the bullpen and there’s Donna, moving around her cubicle. As soon as I see her, the memory of her sleeping on my shoulder on the plane last night comes immediately back. I didn’t think I’d be that guy that liked it when his girlfriend was draped all over him in public, but I am.

“Josh.” she says. She comes striding over with what looks like my schedule. She’s all business as she follows me and Sam into my office. “You have a 10:30 with the trucking representatives in the Roosevelt Room; lunch with Matt Skinner again. It’s very important you don’t bull shit too long with him because you’re staffing the President at 1.” 

She stops and looks at me to make sure I’m paying attention, which, of course, I’m not. I’m standing here grinning at her like an idiot. So much for this not affecting my work.

“Are you listening to me?” she demands.

“Nope. I’m picturing you naked.” 

She glares at me, slams my schedule down on my desk and storms out of the room.

“Oh, and Donna and I got together in Florida.” I say to Sam, whose jaw drops.

“Doesn’t look like it’s going to last after that display.” He smiles.

“No. I think I’m in trouble for that.” I agree.

“So, you and Donna? Really?”

“Unless I just ended it there, yes.” I confirm dropping down into my chair.

“Does Leo know?”

“Yes, he does.”

“You had quite a weekend.” Sam smiles.

“I really did.” But I don’t smile in return. I catch a glimpse of the clocks on the wall and my eyes drift to the time zone where I suspect it most likely Jonah went. Sam watches me curiously as I walk out to Donna’s desk, still locked on that clock. He left a few days ago.

“Donna.” I say.

“What, Josh?” she’s still annoyed with me.

“Can you get me the first five minutes Leo has?” 

She looks up at me and follows my gaze. “Sure.” she says softening her voice. “Do you want me to try Dr. McNally?”

“No, Leo’s fine.” Nancy will just categorically deny everything. Leo will at least give me a yes or no on whether or not he’s heard from my brother. 

She picks up the phone and calls Margaret as I finally break my gaze away from the clocks. “Are you all right?” Sam asks. 

“Yeah. I just... I have an uneasy feeling today.” 

Donna hangs up the phone and she looks concerned now. “You want me to get you some water?” I smile. That’s Donna’s immediate solution to any sort of out of sorts like behavior of mine. Start with something to drink. I used to think it was ridiculous, until I realized it was the taste of adrenaline in my mouth she was trying to head off. 

“Leo?” I ask.

“You can go over now.” she nods. I leave Sam behind and stride determinedly for Leo’s office. Donna falls into step next to me.

“Where are you going?” I dumbly ask her.

“With you.” she says simply.

“You can’t go in there with me.” I lower my voice to her as we walk. 

“No, but I can wait outside with Margaret in case you need me.” he says as we arrive at Leo’s door. I turn and look at her as I knock on Leo’s door and open it at his invitation. “Love you.” I mouth to Donna as I move over the threshold. She smiles back, but she looks a little nervous. 

“Josh, have a seat.” Leo says gesturing to his couch. When I look over at the couch, I see Admiral Fitzwallace there. 

“Um, I’m okay standing.” I’m suddenly extremely happy that Donna’s outside right now. I think I’m going to need her.

“Josh, what I’m about to tell you is National Security sensitive.” Leo says seriously. I know this face of his. It’s his `don’t mess with me’ face. “After uncovering a plot to blow up several key targets within the United States, the President ordered Abdul Shareef assassinated.”

I decide to take Leo up on his advice to sit down.

“Qumar’s our ally.” I say softly.

“Shareef is not.” Fitzwallace says. “Captain Lyman led the mission. They were successful, but there was return fire and we lost contact with them about an hour ago. We know from his lieutenant that he saw Captain Lyman go down, but communications broke down before we could find out his status. We’re trying to reestablish contact now.”

“Go down?” I ask softly. “I don’t understand. Did he fall? What’s that mean?”

“We think he was shot, Josh.” Leo says. 

I drop my head to my hands as the breath leaves my body. 

“Josh?” Leo asks from somewhere off in the distance.

“Donna’s out by Margaret.” I croak out.

“MARGARET!”

“Yeah?” Margaret’s voice is instantly heard in the room.

“Bring Donna in.” 

“Leo.” Fitz says.

“It’s fine.” Leo says. 

Then Donna’s kneeling next to me. One hand’s on my face and one’s on my back. “What’s wrong? What happened?” she asks frantically.

“They think he was shot.” I barely whisper, but I can’t move. I can’t look at her.

“Think?” she asks Leo. 

“We don’t have confirmation.” Leo says. 

“Will they... bring him back with them?” she asks in a shaky voice. She’s asking...oh God....she’s asking if he’s dead if they’ll retrieve his body.

“In the history of the Navy SEALs they have never left a man behind.” Fitzwallace says. Does that guy ever have anything nice to say?

“Okay.” she nods. “We should call your mom, Josh.” 

I can’t make this call to my mother. Another child? I can’t do it. 

“Not yet.” Leo says.

“What?” Donna asks incredulously.

“We don’t know anything yet.”

“We know he’s injured!”

“We THINK he’s injured.” Leo said. “And we don’t have any more information than that. Wait until you can tell her something and answer questions. You’re only going to worry her.” 

“Josh!”

“It’s okay.” I say quietly finally sitting up. “Let’s go back to my office.”

“Sam will staff the President, Josh. Toby will sit in on the trucking lobby and you can reschedule everything else.”

“Okay.” Donna nods and she tugs me to my feet and out of the room. As we pass Margaret’s desk, Donna grabs a bottle of water out of the mini fridge and shoves it in my hand. She ushers me back to the bullpen, ignoring everyone who tried to talk to me in the process and hustles me into my office where she closes all the doors. 

She comes back over to me and her hands are on my face. “Are you all right?” she demands. I look in her eyes. She’s scared. 

“Yeah.” I nod, chugging half the bottle of water. 

“I disagree with Leo. We should call your mom, Josh.” 

“She’s going to freak out and we don’t have any answers for her.”

“I know. But if nothing else, Josh, she’ll head to the airport. The faster she’s here, the faster you can leave to be with him.”

“WE can leave.” I correct. 

“I’m probably going to have to stay here.” She says calmly, like the decision’s already been made. 

“No way. I’m not going to make you sit here and wait for a phone call. I’m not going to do that to you again.” 

“Okay.” she nods and kisses me, and I wish she always got to comfort me like this when something crappy was going on. This is not a bad away to get through something, you know?

“I’ll call your mom.”

I nod as she disappears out of my office. 

*****************************************

DONNA’S POV

I hang up the phone with Sara Lyman. As predicted, that news flew like the Republican platform at the Democratic convention, however, she is going to the airport and taking the next flight here.

“Is she all right?” Josh asks. I turn to him. He’s standing in his doorway, leaning up against the door with his hands in his pockets.

He looks like hell.

“No.” I say honestly. “She’s a mess. But her neighbor is driving her to the airport and staying with her until she gets on a plane.”

“I should have talked to her.” 

“Yeah, that would have been a mess.” I said. He walks over to me and leans up against my cubicle. “This waiting’s making me crazy. How can they not know anything? How could they lose contact? They had to know where they were.”

“They might not.” he says softly. “These things could last for days, Donna. If they lose contact, they don’t try and find them, they wait until the team contacts them. They’re not going to jeopardize their safety. These guys are trained for this stuff.”

“But, what if he’s hurt, Josh?” my voice catches in my throat and takes on a bit of a whine.

“Well, they’re trained for that, too, Donna. They’re all medics. Doesn’t matter who he’s with, any one of them can take care of him. They only think he got injured, they don’t know.” 

Since when is Josh the voice of reason? 

“Do you think he’s scared?” 

He looks at me a long time before answering. “He’s not trained to be scared.” 

Yeah, I’m thinking that’s a yes. I stand up when I see Leo walk into the bullpen. He nods his head to Josh’s office and we follow him. He closes the door and I take Josh’s hand when Leo faces us.

“I don’t know much.” Leo begins. “He was shot in the gut.”

“Oh my God.” that was me.

“He’s stable and being taken to Landstuhl.”

“That’s where you can reach us then.” Josh says firmly. His voice leaves no room for negotiation. Judging by the look on Leo’s face, it doesn’t look like there was going to be any anyway. “We’ll go as soon as my mother lands.” 

“Farm out your office until the end of the week and call me when you see him.” Leo says then leaves the office. 

“He’s alive.” I say hugging Josh. 

“Gut shot’s bad, Donna.” He replies into my shoulder. 

“He’s alive.” I say shaking my head. “And if he’s anything like you, that’s the only hurdle.”


	12. Prodigal Son, The

~JOSH’S POV~

“What are you doing here?” My brother asks incredulously from the hospital bed.

“Thanks a lot!”

“Wait. Am I dead?” 

“Is it so off the wall that I’d come visit my brother in the hospital after he was shot?” I shoot back. “You came to see me.”

“Yeah, but I thought they were sending me to Germany. Am I home?”

“No. We’re all in Germany.” I say dryly.

“You flew to Germany?”

“Helps to know the President.” I shrug. 

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah, that about covers it.” 

“Wait, who’s all?”

“Donna and mom are here, too.” 

“You dragged mom to Germany?”

“There was no dragging involved, trust me.” 

I look over at him and he looks like he still can’t believe it. He’ll get used to it. 

“You’re breaking the rules.” he grins. “It’s not visiting hours.”

“Rules?” I laugh. “Jonah, we’re at a military hospital and I have the diplomatic ranking of a three star general. What rules?” 

“Snob.” 

“You’re going to love the effect it has on the staff’s treatment of you. Your doctor is a female colonel. She’ll give you a sponge bath if I ask her to.” 

“Please...” he scoffs dropping his head against the pillow. “Really?” 

I laugh at his reaction. He starts to laugh but then winces.

“I was told what your mission was.” I say quietly.

“Yeah.” he says. 

“They said when you were told what it was you were eager to lead the team.”

“Yeah.”

“Why you?” 

“One of the targets he was going to blow up, Josh, was the White House. He had a pretty good plan, too. It probably would have worked. You tell me. In what universe did you think I wouldn’t want to kill the guy that wanted to kill my brother?”

 

“Aren’t they giving you morphine for the pain?” 

“They’ve got me hooked up to it, but I’m not taking it.” 

“Why the hell not!?”

“I’m a recovering drug addict, Josh.” he says firmly. “I can’t take that shit.”

I stare at him in amazement and then look at the morphine clicker hanging unobtrusively off his bed and out of his reach, probably exactly where he sent it. If there’s one thing I know right now, it’s how much pain he’s in. 

I know exactly how much pain he’s in.

“God!” he grinds out, pressing his palms to his eyes.

I know. Oh God, I know.

“Jonah, come on.” I plead. “You don’t have to be hero. The morphine’s good. Let them give you more.”

“Do you know how long it will take me to get over it, Josh?” he says through clenched teeth. “I can’t.” 

“I’ll help you.” I insist. “Donna and I will be here and we’ll help you get through it. Mallory will be there, Mom will. Jonah, please don’t go through this pain. You don’t have to.”

“Yeah. I do.” he says. It seems to have lessened a bit, but I know what he’s feeling, and really it’s just degrees of agony.

I grab his hand, which he immediately squeezes against the pain. The harder he squeezes, the more desperate I get to ease this for him. Just knowing what he’s going through doesn’t seem to be enough anymore.

“She had green eyes.” I begin. “Same color as you actually.” He stops struggling a little. “She had brown hair, just like us. I don’t think she would have been all that tall though, probably mom’s height.” His struggles cease all together. He’s still breathing pretty hard, but he’s listening intently to me now. “She loved music. Her favorite song was the Ave Maria.”

“She knew she was Jewish, right?” he laughs.

“Yeah, she knew.” I laugh back. “She didn’t care. She thought it was beautiful. She wanted to be a conductor and she wanted to conduct it for an orchestra.”

“I’ve never heard mom and dad listen to it.”

“I do all the time.” I confess. “Late at night in my office. I get it stuck in my head a lot.” I can feel him relax a bit as I think most of the pain has passed. “She was a big Donnie and Marie fan. She was in love with that guy. She was precocious, too. Damn, but she would have pissed us off when she was a teenager. She pissed me off that night.” 

“Josh, you don’t have to...”

“Yeah, I do, Jonah. She was your sister, too.” He lays his other hand on top of mine. “I wanted popcorn. She said she wouldn’t make it because it was bedtime. Mom and dad said I had to be in bed at 8, and it was already 8:15. So, me being me, who finds a way around absolutely everything, waited until after she put me to bed. She was down in mom and dad’s room watching t.v. In that house, my room was at the top of the stairs and theirs was at the end. She didn’t know I got out of bed. I tried to make it myself. I don’t know what happened, but the kitchen went up like a roman candle. I ran out the house. I’m not sure what happened to her. I don’t if she tried to put it out, or she never even made it downstairs.”

“It’s not your fault.” he says after a long pause.

“I know.”

“No, it’s really not.” he insists. “Josh, when we’re little kids, we’re taught to run out of the house when it’s on fire. You did what you were taught.”

“I started the fire.”

“You were six.”

“I still started it.”

“I crashed their car.”

“Twice.” I laugh. 

“Yeah, you would remember both times.”

“One of them was into MY car!” 

He laughs until a burst of pain overtakes him and he clutches my hand. I put my other hand on top of our other three and squeeze tightly. “Breathe through it, Jonah.” I say firmly.

“Oh God!”

“Listen to me, Jonah. Breathe through it. Force yourself to calm down and breathe like you’re underwater. Just like you’ve been trained to.” 

It takes a few minutes, but he eventually gets himself back under control. 

“She had an ugly ass pink room...”

I don’t get any further than that because his struggles start up again and Donna enters the room. There’s tears streaming down her face, but she’s cool as a cucumber. She boldly leans down to where the morphine clicker is hanging off the bed and clicks it before dropping it out of his reach.

“NO!” Jonah yells. 

“Stop being a hero.” she hisses in return. “You’re going to be weaned off this, under the care of a medical team, long before you leave the hospital. Then you’re going to the naval hospital in Washington for rehab, where you’ll be under the care of another medical team, and probably the First Lady of the United States. No one’s sending you off into the world in control of your own morphine, Jonah. You can’t get better if your body can’t heal and it can’t heal when it’s in this kind of pain.”

The morphine had it’s famous instant effect on him and he’s doing oh so much better, staring at Donna with the same awe I am. She had the courage to do what I couldn’t bring myself to do. Despite my brother’s obvious pain, I wanted to respect his wishes. I was also terrified of him going down that road again. But Donna would never tolerate anyone or anything in any kind of pain in her presence, not when there was something she could actually do about it.

“I can’t believe you just did that.” he says incredulously.

“I can.” I chuckle, but she shoots me a glare.

She walks over and presses a kiss to his forehead. “I’m not worried.” she smiles. “You and your brother can get through anything. I’m convinced of it. And if you can manage to lean over in the bed and bend down to get that thing to overdose yourself with your abdomen in the shape it is, then you truly deserve it because that’s going to take way more strength than your muscles have.” 

She turns and walks to me as he’s drifting off to sleep. She runs her fingers a few times through my hair and I wrap my arms around her waist, pressing the side of my face to her stomach. “Thank you.” I whisper.

She does nothing and says nothing. She just stands there and lets me hold onto her.


	13. Prodigal Son, The

~DONNA’S POV~

I walk into Jonah’s room and he makes a big show of turning his head away from me.

“I’m not talking to you.” he says dramatically.

“Oh, well, that’s okay.” I wave off. “Josh will tell you that I don’t really need anyone else in a conversation. I talk enough for both of us.” 

I pull up a chair to the side of his bed and pretend to brush something out of his hair. He blinks twice and looks over at me. 

“I’m sorry if you’re mad at me.” I say softly. “I’ve seen exactly what you’re about to go through, Jonah, and you can’t do it without medication. You’re tough, but nobody’s that tough.”

“I might be.”

“Do you want your family to see you suffer?” 

“You don’t play fair.” he grumbles. 

“Unfortunately for you, your brother has taught me well that sometimes you have to fight dirty to win.” 

“That’s an ugly lesson for you to learn.” He says. “I’m very disappointed now that you’re that kind of girl.”

“No, you’re not.” I laugh.

“No, I’m not.” he concedes. “It’s kind of hot. Do you have a sister?”

“No, I don’t. But you told me that you weren’t boyfriend material.” 

“I’m non-deployable now, Donna. My whole life’s about to change.” 

“I’m sorry.” I say softly. I don’t know why. He’s obviously going to have a much safer job now. He shrugs in response. 

“I don’t know what you had to do.” I say. “I think Josh does, but they didn’t tell me. I’m not allowed to know that kind of stuff. But, I have a vague idea of what it might have been like. Were you scared?” 

He smiles and looks at me. “I don’t get that luxury.” He smirks.

“Oh.”

“But if I did, between you and me, I think it’s safe to say that I would have been terrified.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Promise you won’t get mad?”

“No!” he laughs. “How can I make that promise without knowing what you’re going to ask me? Does my brother make that promise?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Does he keep it?”

“Mostly.”

“Seriously? He does love you.” 

“Back to my question.” I redirect. 

“All right.”

“What’s the draw to what you do? It’s so dangerous. Why would you want do that?”

“My mother will tell you it’s because I have a death wish. And my brother used to say it’s because I’m an idiot.” he smirks. 

“Well, neither of those are true, so what does Jonah say?” 

“I believe in what I do.” He says softly. “I believe in the people I help, stopping evil. I helped a whole country this time, Donna. The people who live there will never know it, if there’s any justice in the world, but they’ll go to bed safe tonight.” 

“You almost died for it.”

“Saving a country is worth it, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t.” she says. “Maybe that’s selfish, but I don’t. It’s probably the terror of Rosslyn speaking, but in my opinion, save it for someone else.”

“Someone’s got to do it.”

“Not my future brother in law.”

“Someone’s future brother in law.” he retorts. “Freedom comes with sacrifice. It always has.”

“Now you sound like the President.” I say rolling my eyes and he chuckles.

“That’s a compliment. And a pretty big one.” I roll my eyes and wave my hand dramatically. “And it was personal this time.” he says softly. I meet his eyes and it’s that same intense stare Josh gives me. There’s no talking to these Lyman men when they get something stuck in their teeth.

“You know, you’re not like Josh’s other girlfriends.” he says changing the subject.

“Having met two of them, that’s a compliment.” I say dryly. 

“It’s like you’re smart, but you don’t throw it in people’s faces. You take some of his crap, but not most. And he falls all over himself when you’re around.”

“That last part’s not true.”

“I think you need to open your eyes and look around you.”

“I thought I was lecturing you.” I say indignantly.

“I turned the tables.”

“I see that.” I give him pout. It doesn’t seem to work.

“I’m not lecturing you.” he says. “I’m just surprised. You seem to actually love him.”

“I do.”

“Have you known him a while or were you a mail order thing?”

I gasp astounded and smack him in the leg. That took bravado!

“Stop upsetting my girlfriend.” Josh says announcing his presence. When I look to the doorway, he’s leaning against it.

“Did you hear what he just said!?” I demand.

“I did.” he smirks.

“You’re not going to defend my honor?”

“I just told him to stop upsetting you.” he points out, pushing off the door jam. I wonder how long he’s been standing there. He pulls me out of my chair, sits down and pulls me back to his lap.

“Looks like you’ve got a live one there, big brother.” Jonah smiles. 

“Yeah, she’s a handful.”

“I’m not talking to either one of you.”

“That’ll last 30 thirty seconds.” Josh mutters.

“Lasted only five with me.” Jonah says. 

“That’s it.” I push myself off of Josh’s lap and glare at them both. “I’m going to go get your mother.” 

They both look properly afraid as I march out of the room, as soon as I’m all but a step away, I hear them laugh and it makes me smile.


	14. Prodigal Son, The

~JOSH’S POV~

I gently push the hair out of Donna’s face. When she opens her eyes, I move in for a morning kiss and she smiles radiantly in return. She drops her head down onto my arm and I take the opening to pull her head closer to me with my forearm, kissing her again. 

I could seriously kiss this woman all day. How is it that for a couple that’s been together all of a week, we could read each other so well? Sam would probably tell me here that it’s because Donna and I have been together for four years, but I prefer to think that we were programmed for each other. 

She’s got one hand on my chest that she uses for leverage to push herself above me. There’s only one thing to do in this situation.

Off comes her shirt. I already wasn’t wearing one, so I’m ahead of the game.

Our eyes meet briefly before she kisses me again, and breaks off to pay some attention to my neck and...Oh!... that spot behind my ear she found that other day. I didn’t know it could do that, quite frankly.

She moves to my chest and I don’t think she misses an inch. Down to my stomach, she slides my boxers off and....

Nope! 

Not going there.

What do you want from me? It’s the morning. 

I pull her back up and roll us over. She’s pouting.

“Get over it.” I say to her silent protest. 

“Oooh, sexy morning voice.” she coos. 

Donna saying the word sexy in relation to anything having to do with me is an enormous turn on, in case you were wondering. 

I kiss my way down her neck and along her collarbone, taking my time until she sighs with pleasure. When we’re at the White House, it’s all about me. That’s not ego. It just is. That’s the kind of job I have. So, when we’re not, I think it should be all about her. Because a lot of times it’s still not. That’s just the kind of guy I am. So, I like to make the conscious effort when I remember. 

“Oh, yesssss.....” she says softly as I move down to her breasts. In my opinion, if you have to wonder if she likes what you’re doing, she probably doesn’t. 

We’ve only done this a handful of times so far. I mean, we’ve only been doing this a week and part of that week was taken up by traveling here to Germany and being at the hospital, staying with my brother. But that aside, I’m already learning that Donna’s all about the positive reinforcement in bed. 

It’s awesome. 

It really gets you going. She really gets me going. 

I kiss down her stomach and settle in for what is becoming one of my favorite extra curricular activities. Time of day doesn’t matter for her, you know. 

She moans loudly and clamps a pillow over her face, but I reach up and pull it off. I want to hear every noise she makes. When she gasps loudly and clenches the sheets, I know my work here is done and I kiss my way back up her body. 

“Morning.” I smirk.

“Hmmm?”

Give her a minute. She’s a little dazed right now. 

I push up into her and kiss the rest of the sense out of her.

“I said good morning.” I grin. 

“This is a nice wake up call.” she groans, tipping her head back.

“Uh-huh.” 

I just like watching her. She immerses herself in me and it’s so incredibly erotic. She cries out with her second orgasm and when I’m done myself, I drop down next to her and gather her as close as I can. 

“This is how I wanted to wake you up that morning in your apartment.” I say, attaching my lips to her ear lobe. 

“I can’t believe we’ve only been doing this for a week.”

“I can’t believe we’ve waited four years to do it.”

She rolls in my arms to face me and runs her finger down my cheek. “I love you.” she whispers. 

“Sometimes I can’t believe that either.” I smile. “It’s hard to believe I’m not dreaming when you say that.”

“Where did this sweet side of you come from?” She asks smiling broadly and I give her a half shrug. “I never would have thought you were this much of a romantic.” 

“I guess it was never the right girl.”

Her eyes fill with tears and I make an exaggerated show of rolling my eyes. Between you and me, I really don’t mind when she gets all emotional like this. None of my other girlfriends would ever admit that they were, well, girls. Donna’s so honest and I like that she doesn’t constantly need to be the dominant one in the relationship.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I know when not to mess with her. I know when things aren’t going to fly and I respect that. I’m just saying Donna doesn’t always need to be the one in control and she doesn’t always need to be right.

Scratch that.

She doesn’t always need to be the one in control. She usually is right anyway.

Remember that Woody Woodpecker cartoon where that detective kept showing up and saying “If Woody had gone straight to the police, this would have never have happened.” That guy’s talking about me. He’s saying something like, “If Joshua had listened to Donna, this would have never have happened.” 

Get it?

Nevermind.

“I know I don’t say it as much as you do, but I love you, too.” I whisper.

“You don’t have to say it that much. I know you do. You show me a hundred times every day.”

“Sometimes I’m afraid I forget to show you.” 

“I can see it in your eyes, Josh. I’ve been able to for years. You don’t look at me the way you look at anybody else.”

“Nobody else is you.”

*****************************************

~DONNA’S POV~

I pick my head up off of Josh’s shoulder and squint at his computer screen. “You’re still on the computer?” I feel the need to state the obvious here.

“Uh-uh.” he grunts. He’s got his chin on his fist and he’s scrolling through his emails. Well, we are on an airplane. There’s not much else to do. But, I was liking having him as a captive audience. I guess he’s not that captive. Plus, I fell asleep a little while ago anyway...basically because he pulled his computer out. 

“Shut that thing off and talk to me.” I order. I link my fingers with his and snuggle down into his shoulder. Like a good boy, he powers down his computer. 

“What do you want to talk about?” 

Reasonable question. 

“I don’t know.” I shrug.

“You didn’t want to talk to me about something specific?”

“Not particularly.”

He chuckles a bit. I rest my chin on this shoulder and he turns his head, looking me straight in the eyes, he kisses me on the forehead and I smile. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever had a moment this intimate with my clothes on.

I think that just made me sound a bit whorish.

Nevermind.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Yeah.” I nod. “Why?”

“I don’t know. You’ve just been...melancholy.” 

“I’ve been...melancholy?”

“Something.” 

“There was a lot happening back there. It was pretty emotional.” 

“You were incredible, Donna.” he says. “I could never have done what you did for Jonah.”

“What was he going to do?” I counter. “The morphine knocked him out. But I wasn’t talking about that.”

“What were you talking about?” 

“It’s going to sound dumb.”

“Since you’re not dumb, I find that hard to believe.”

“It just...it brought back a lot of memories when you were in that same position. And I know it’s silly because I know you’re fine now, but I felt like I wasn’t allowed to get emotional about it then. I wasn’t allowed to cry for you, and I wasn’t allowed to be mad at the people who did it, and I wasn’t allowed to show any more concern than was acceptable for an assistant to show for her boss, and so I just had to keep everything bottled up, and I think it just hit me a bit more at the hospital.”

He smiles wryly at me. “I have to say, Donna, you didn’t do a good job of keeping it bottled up.”

“What?”

“I saw. When you thought no one was looking, I was. I didn’t have anything else to do and you were always there, and so I watched you. And I know you watched over me during the surgery. One of the doctors noted you were waiting outside of the recovery room. He said he’d never seen the kind of devotion my girlfriend was showing and I thought I was delirious because I didn’t have a girlfriend, or I couldn’t remember if I did. He said he saw you through the glass of the operating room and he’d go get my guardian angel for me because she’d certainly deserved the visit and that’s when he brought you in. I never told you what that meant to me.”

The tears are running down my face and I do nothing to stop them. He doesn’t seem bothered by them, so why should I care?

“It meant that I could let my guard down and be tired, and be in pain, and be weak, because you were there protecting me just like you always do. You were making sure I didn’t get overtaxed, you were making sure my blood pressure stayed down, you were making sure the press couldn’t sneak through, or Toby couldn’t sneak through. You were on it all and so I didn’t have to be. I am fine now, Donna, and it’s all because of you.”

“Toby tried to sneak through a lot.” I laugh a bit and wipe my tears away.

“Well, I can tell you this now, but he was often successful, Donna. He used to schedule fake meetings on the Hill. I think he even did a fake doctors appointment.” 

I’ll kill him. “I was worried about him that day! I was afraid he was getting too stressed out with the extra work.”

“He did feel bad about that.” Josh defends. 

“I. Will. Shred. Him.”

“Well, I’d discourage that, but since nobody gets in his face, I’d like to see you do that.” 

“I will.” I say with authority. And I’m going to. Toby’s afraid of CJ? Wait until he sees me!

“I saw, Donna.” Josh says quietly. “And you saw there was a problem when nobody else wanted to admit it, especially me.”

I push the armrest up and he wraps an arm around my shoulders and mine go around his waist. I settle my head on his chest and it’s right over his heart. He’s pretty much always let me see his weaknesses. He had to, or quite honestly, I couldn’t do my job. But what he didn’t have to show me was his fear, and I’ve seen that. 

His fingers start running gently through my hair. It’s hard to believe it’s only been a week. I feel like I’ve been doing this with him for years. I guess on some level, we have been. But with the soft strokes of his fingers and the gentle beating of his heart, my eyes can’t fight their exhaustion any more and I drift off to sleep.


	15. Prodigal Son, The

MALLORY’S POV

I slam through the door of Josh’s office and he jumps, clutching a hand over his chest. I keep forgetting that sudden loud noises still startle him sometimes.

“Christ, Mal!” he yelps.

“Sorry.” I mumble. 

“God!” he groans, momentarily pressing his palm to his forehead.

“I said I was sorry.” I say.

“What do you need?” he sighs.

“What do I need!?” I shriek. Tears are brimming in my eyes and I’m shaking my head at him. “Hello! Your brother! How is he?”

“He’s going to be okay.” Josh softens his tone and hugs me when the tears start streaming freely down my face.

“You’re sure?”

“Well, no. I’m not a doctor. But the doctors say he should be just fine. He’s flying home next week.” 

“My father said that’s probably the end of his career.” I say, pulling away from him and wiping my eyes.

“At least this phase of it.” 

“You flew to Germany.” I note cautiously. 

“Well...yeah.” 

“I understand things went well in Florida.”

“I guess.” he shrugs. 

“Your mother says you’ve forgiven him.”

“I think I forgave him a long time ago, Mal. I just couldn’t find the right opportunity to tell him.” he sits down in his chair and looks up at me. Not many people see Josh when he’s unguarded and even fewer hear any kind of personal feelings; Donna, my father, his mother, and me. That’s a pretty small circle. Though, thank God, it sounds like his brother is once again in that circle. “I forgave him, and then he chose this job and I was angry all over again. I thought, how could he do that to my mother? How could he take a job where she’d be constantly wondering if she was never going to see him again? How could he put her in a position to lose another child? How could he put ME in the position to lose another sibling?”

“What happened?” I smirk.

“I got shot and realized I had the same kind of job.” he smirks back. 

“Well, I don’t know what gave you the push to talk to him finally...” I say sitting down.

“Donna.” he immediately interrupts me.

“Of course.” I smile. She’s pushes him to do everything. It really doesn’t take much effort on her part. Since the day he met her, he’s wanted to be a better person. He’s done things I never thought he would, he’s taken personal risks and shown sides of himself I’ve hardly gotten to see. I used to think he’d never actually fall in love. He’s had serious girlfriends before. I haven’t liked any of them. But I’ve always had fun because they’d always suck up to me because of my father. Amy Gardner was the worst at that. That woman is F-A-K-E!

“We should talk about her.” I say suddenly.

“Who?”

“Donna.”

“Why?” he asks cautiously. 

“Because you’re together now.” I say as if it should have been obvious. “You have a new girlfriend, one who happens to be your assistant, who I’ve watched you trip over yourself whenever she’s been around for the last four years.” 

“You make me sound like an idiot. I have not tripped over myself.” 

“You’ve always been different with her.”

“Yeah, well that’s because....always?” 

I smile victoriously. We’re actually going to talk about this. He NEVER wants to talk about his relationships with me. I harass him and he ignores me, and that’s the way those conversations usually go. But I was right; Donna’s different.

“Yup.” 

“What do you mean different?” 

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Just different. You seem to have a lot more patience with her. When you two argue, it’s like you live for it, instead of dreading it like you did with Mandy and Amy. You’ve ALWAYS been jealous when other men so much as speak to her, much less when she dated. You always seem to know where she is and you smile a lot when she’s around.”

“I know.” he chuckles rubbing his eyes. “I never wanted to think too much about it. I tried to force myself to see her kinda like you, you know? But, it would never work.”

“Are you going to marry her, Josh?” I ask quietly.

“I want to.” he says back just as quietly. 

We smile at each other for a moment before I stand up. “Well, you’ve had a big week and you look like shit. I should let you get back to work.”

“Thanks, Mally Cat.” 

I roll my eyes at their little nickname. Thank God they never call me that around, like, Sam or someone. Well, Jonah did call me in front of Sam a few weeks ago. But believe it or not, Jonah is significantly more obnoxious than Josh is. “I’ll see you at the President’s Memorial Day BBQ.”

“Oh God!” he groans, falling back into his chair. “Well, at least I have some notice. I can find a reason to get out of it.”

“Nope.” I deny him. “Your brother is supposed to be the guest of honor.” 

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. So, no getting out of it this year.” I move around the desk and peck him on the cheek. “See you later.” 

I want to stay and delve into his brain more, but you have to do these things in baby steps around him and I don’t want him shut down entirely.

****************************

DONNA’S POV

“Josh has a brother?” CJ asks again.

“Yeah.” I sigh. I can’t believe he’s never told them. I can’t believe it ever got that bad. 

“And Sam knows him?” CJ asks again.

“Not well, but I’ve met him a few times.” Sam nods. 

“How is it we’ve never even heard of him?” CJ asks. 

“They had a falling out a long time ago, and Josh had a hard time forgiving him.” I explain. “They’ve only recently patched things up.”

“And this brother goes off in the world somewhere and gets shot.” Toby says.

“Yeah. He’s going to be okay, but, yeah, he did.” I reply. “He’s a Navy SEAL. The President and Leo sent him somewhere. I obviously don’t know the specifics.”

CJ and Toby share a glace with each other and then look over at Sam who shrugs. It’s a silent question among the three of them to see if any of them were on the inside on that one. None of them were, even Josh wasn’t, though I know Leo told him about it after the fact...whatever it was. 

“This is really rather stunning.” CJ says. I hold back a snicker at that. I mean really, of all the things CJ hears in a day, THIS is stunning? Well, I suppose it is. “What’s he like?” she looks over at Sam, but Sam shrugs.

“I’ve only met him a handful of times and I haven’t spent too much time in his company.” Sam says. 

“He’s wonderful.” I jump in. “He’s a lot like Josh. He’s funny, he’s loyal to his family, loyal to his country, and he’s also infuriating.”

“That does sound a lot like Josh.” Toby quips. 

“Anyway,” I continue throwing a half-hearted glare in Toby’s direction. “He’ll be at the BBQ and I just didn’t really want him to know that Josh’s close friends didn’t know about him. He loves Josh and they’re getting along again, and I don’t think he really needs to know about that.”

“You knew about him though.” CJ says looking at me pointedly. “How long have you known about him?”

“Um...pretty much as long I’ve known Josh.” I confess. “His mother’s told me all about him over the years. I only just met him recently though. Everything I just said about him is my opinion. Really, guys, I know what happened between them,” Sam does a double take in my direction. “And it’s really between the two of them. Jonah’s really not a bad guy. It was a long time ago, and Jonah was young and stupid and it’s in the past now. I just didn’t want anybody to show surprise to him that Josh had a brother.” 

CJ straightens up a bit and points behind me with her pen. “Oh, um, hey, Josh.” she says. 

My eyes widen a bit. I hope he’s not pissed. I’m just about to turn around and face the music when I feel his arms come around me and his hands come to rest on my stomach. He leans his chin on my shoulder. 

“Thank you.” he whispers in my ear. Guess he’s not pissed. “Of course, he’d dispute everything you just said.” he says so everyone else can hear.

“Not the infuriating part.” I deny.

“Well, no, not that part.”

Toby and CJ are looking at us with wide eyes. “This is new.” CJ says waving a hand at us, as I link my fingers with Josh. 

“Leo didn’t tell you?” Josh asks surprised.

“He alluded to a changes in your personal life as a reason for your sudden absence.” Toby says scratching his beard.

“Donna and I are together.” Josh confirms.

“I knew.” Sam holds up his hand.

“And you didn’t tell me!?” CJ shrieks. She slams her palms flat on her desk and pushes herself up. “What if someone saw you?”

“Many people saw me.” Josh shrugs.

“Josh!”

“Take it up with Leo, CJ.” Josh shoots back. “I was in Germany with my brother who almost died and Leo’s the one who sent me to my mother’s. You didn’t think it was strange that Donna came with me?”

“No, quite frankly.” CJ says. “That’s just the kind of unconventional stuff you guys do.”

“Talk to Leo.” Josh says again. “He’s the one that said it would be okay. He doesn’t appear to be concerned.”

CJ’s sighs and sits back down. “You know, you guys look kinda cute together.” she confesses. 

“It’s Donna.” Josh says immediately. “She makes me look half-way decent.”

“Says the guy with a fan club and a website in his illustrious honor.” I say rolling my eyes. 

“Maybe that’s where you should make your announcement.” Sam chuckles.

“I do owe them.” Josh says.

“They’ll burn me in effigy.” I reply.

“You will ALL stay off that ridiculous site.” CJ says forcefully. She’s got what Josh calls her ‘don’t give me shit feminista face’ on now, too, so we’re all scared of her. She looks back at me and Josh with a glare. “And do me a favor, don’t go making out on the Mall until I talk to Leo about this either.” 

Josh snaps his fingers and looks at me. “We probably shouldn’t have gone at it on the steps of Capital Hill.” 

“I definitely should have kept my clothes on when we went swimming in the Reflection Pool.” I reply.

“I’m done with you two.” she waves us out of her office.


	16. Prodigal Son, The

~CJ’S POV~

Okay, this is weird. I can’t seem to stop looking at Josh’s brother. I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t know he had a brother or what. Donna filled me in briefly before we got here today. She didn’t want Toby and I to show surprise over the fact that Josh had a brother, at least not in front of Jonah. Jonah seems to have a really good rapport with Leo. They obviously know each other well. Sam’s also met him before, and Mallory, likewise seems to know him well.

Isn’t that just like Josh to hide a whole brother from his friends? 

Even the President seems enthralled with him. Of course, he might be solicitous because apparently Jonah was seriously injured on a mission for the President. That might be guilt there. I look around the gathering at the other staff members. It was weird how for the first time since we’ve been in office, everyone was so willing to be here today. Usually, everyone is clamoring to find other plans when the President throws a party. But, it’s Memorial Day, and the President and First Lady are throwing the mother of all barbeques right now on the South Lawn. Maybe because Jonah’s the guest of honor and everyone was curious about him. But Admiral Fitzwallace is here, too. 

I’m dying to know what Jonah’s mission was, but I know better than to ask.

Donna comes over and hands me a beer. 

“He’s interesting.” I say, gesturing over in Jonah’s direction. 

She looks over and smiles where Jonah and Josh are sitting. Mallory’s with them, and they’re obviously making fun of her for something because she stalks off and takes a seat over by Zoey. 

“He’s so great.” Donna smiles, pushing her sunglasses up on her head. “You should hear about some of the training he does.”

“Leo said he’s pretty much done as a SEAL now.”

“Well, apparently, he’s getting to be too old. I think with the injury he had, they think he won’t be able to get back to the same performance level he was at before. I think he might get into training.” 

“Think he’ll stay in Virginia?” I ask casually.

“I’m sure some strings will be pulled, given his present company, to keep him here.” she smiles knowingly. 

I straighten up and push the hair out of my face when I see him stand up slowly and make his way over to us. What is wrong with me? 

“How’s my soon to be favorite sister in law?” he smiles at Donna, kissing her cheek.

“WHAT!?” I shriek. “Something you want to share with the class, Donna?”

“No.” Donna smiles indulgently at me. “It’s not true.”

“My mother said...” Jonah begins with a frown.

“She’s been saying that for three years.” Donna replies.

Jonah looks over his shoulder at Josh and back to Donna. “He loves you. I’ve never seen him that way over a woman before.”

“I know he does.” Donna says. “We’ll get there, Jonah.”

“I’d threaten to steal you away, but I don’t think you’re stealable.”

“I’m not. But you’re such a gentleman for asking first.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.” He smiles, and he looks like quite the charmer actually. 

“So, Jonah,” I say. “How long are you in Washington for?” 

“I’ll be transferred to Virginia permanently, ma’am, if Admiral Fitzwallace has his way.” Jonah says, gesturing back to where Fitz is talking with Josh and Leo. “And seeing as how he’s an Admiral and the President’s chief military advisor, I’d say he gets his way a lot.”

“You don’t have to call me ma’am.” I smile. What is WRONG with me? Even Donna gives me a strange look. 

“Should I call you Ms. Cregg?”

“CJ’s fine.”

“Okay, CJ.” 

“Are you going to stay at Josh’s?”

“God, no!” Jonah laughs. “Neither one of us is ready for that! I’ll just stay on base. I got a ton of physical therapy now anyway.” 

Hmm... that was a cryptic comment he made there about neither one of them being ready for that But then again, Donna did said they’d only recently patched things up.

“That’s not true, Jonah.” Donna says quietly. “You can stay there. He’d love to have you.” 

“I’m too high maintenance right now, Donna.” He smiles lightly back. “Unless you’d like to take some time off and be my nurse?”

“Flirt.” Donna smiles rolling her eyes. “I’ve already nursed one Lyman back to health, if you’re anything like him, I’m definitely passing.”

“Oh, I’m probably worse.” Jonah replies. “I think I’ve got more nervous energy than Josh does.”

“That’s impossible.” Donna and I chorus.

“I’ll be around, Donna.” Jonah says, dropping the volume of his voice as Josh tends to do when he talks to her. 

Jonah looks a lot like his brother, and he’s got a lot of the same mannerisms as him. Jonah’s definitely built bigger than Josh, which is obviously because of his line of work, and he’s got a bit of a dangerous glint in his eye, which makes it all the more intriguing to watch the way he too turns to a puddle at Donna’s feet like his brother does, though Jonah quite obviously has more of a brotherly love for her. 

She swipes a tear from her cheek and gestures to his empty beer bottle. “You want another beer?” she asks.

“Are you going to sneak me a real one?” he smiles raising his eyebrows a few times at her. She gives him her Josh glare and he immediately backs down. “I was just kidding! These are great! I’ll have another!” 

She grabs his empty bottle and walks away from us. He looks over at me and rolls his eyes. “She’s ruthless!”

“She is.” I agree. 

“So, Ms. Cregg, you’re a face and a voice I’ve gotten to know well over the past few weeks. You’re on CNN all the time.” he smiles at me.

“Well, it’s my job.” I smile back and push my hair behind my ear. What is WRONG with me!? God, it’s just a guy! And it’s Josh’s brother, to boot, which means, he’s probably got plenty of Josh’s annoying habits as well. Yeah. I bet he does. Right.

“It’s becoming the highlight of my day.”

“Really?”

“Well, the rest of my day is physical therapy, which is really just torture delivered with a smile, so yeah, t.v. time is definitely something to look forward to.”

Yeah, definitely Josh’s brother. But I find myself overlooking that. He nods his head over to an empty table. “Join me for a Presidential hot dog and really crappy non-alcoholic beer?”

“Best offer I’ve had in years.”

*************************************

~JOSH’S POV~

I’m straddling a bench talking to Sam when Donna comes over and sits in front of me with two loaded down plates and two beers. She shimmies all the way back and I’m instantly hoping she stays here for a while because it could be a bit embarrassing if she gets up any time soon.

She slides a plate and a beer over towards me and points a few tables down. “What do you think of that?” she asks. I follow the direction of her finger until I see CJ and Jonah talking a few tables down. CJ’s smiling at him and laughing. 

Scratch that.

CJ’s BEAMING at him and laughing. 

She’s crossing and uncrossing her legs and Jonah’s eating it up. What the hell’s happening down there? 

“Jonah’s interested in CJ?” I asked, clearly confused.

“Josh!” Donna laughs. “CJ’s a very attractive woman. She’s one of the top eligible bachelorettes in Washington!”

“CJ? I guess I never really thought of her like that.” 

“Of course not.” Sam says. “You met Donna a month after you met CJ. You never had a chance to think of CJ like that.” 

I glare at Sam; Donna beams at me. I’m not so mad at Sam now. 

“I guess he’ll be around more since he’s non-deployable.” I frown. “So, you know, it’s logical he’d be looking for a girlfriend.”

“What’s the matter?” Donna asks. “Aren’t you happy for him?”

“Sure.” I nod immediately.

Are you kidding!? Of course I’m not happy for him! He and I are finally on the right track and CJ’s going to steal him away!? What the hell? CJ doesn’t even date!

“Hey.” Donna says. She pulls my face back to look at her. I like this view better. “You okay?” 

“Yeah.” I nod.

“You’re not jealous are you?” 

“What?”

“That CJ’s got his attention.” 

“No, Donna, I’m not jealous.” I go for annoyed, but I don’t think it remotely comes out that way.  
Mallory sits down at the table with us and takes a sip of her beer. 

“What’s going on over here?” she asks.

I point my bottle in the direction of my brother and the press secretary. “That.”

Mallory looks over and pushes her sunglasses up on her head. “Well, that’s....interesting.” 

“This is what I’m saying.” 

“Okay. What am I missing?” Sam asks. “What’s the big deal? They’re both adults, they’re both going to be in Washington, and they’re both single.”

“I just never would have paired them together.” Mallory shrugs going back to her beer. “Jonah’s never really been interested in a long term relationship because of his job and before that, his totally destructible lifestyle, and he also doesn’t seem to be CJ’s type.” 

“Why wouldn’t he be CJ’s type?” Sam asks a little defensively. I think he just wants to fight with Mallory. I think he misses her. I’d much rather she date him than that crappy hockey player. 

“He’s younger than her. He’s in the Navy and they get transferred around, Sam.” Mallory spits back. “He’s got a little bit of a sketchy past and she’s a public figure, AND he’s ten times more obnoxious than Josh.”

“I’m not obnoxious!” I just say that for show because everyone expects me to, but I’m saved from the eye rolling when we hear CJ’s boisterous laughter ring out. We look over at them and she’s thrown back her head laughing. Her hand is on my brother’s arm and he’s leaning in, laughing and talking to her.

“I wonder what’s so funny.” Donna says.

Just then, CJ props herself up and looks over at us, with a huge grin on her face. “Hey! Mally Cat!” she calls, I bust out laugh.

“JONAH DAVID!” Mallory screams. She gets up and goes running over to him. He doesn’t look the slightest bit scared, even when she puts him in a headlock. My brother’s fearless.

“Mallory, the man’s recovering from a gun shot wound.” Leo admonishes from close by. I was recovering from a gun shot wound and it didn’t stop her from putting me in a head lock. Mallory lets go of my brother and just to get the last word, shoves him. Then sits down next to them.

“I’ve got plenty of embarrassing stories to tell you, CJ.” she says with a glare at my brother. 

“I’ve got nothing to hide.” Jonah says gesturing. 

Sam, Donna, and I turn back to our table. Donna returns to her meal, and Sam returns to his beer. My eyes drift back to where CJ is giving my brother that million dollar smile of hers and he’s eating it up. Interesting. I glance over at Donna and back to CJ and Jonah. I guess opposites really do attract.


	17. Prodigal Son, The

DONNA’S POV

I open Josh’s apartment door and smile when I greet CJ.

“You’re becoming a regular fixture around here.” I tease, taking the bag of food she’s got. “Where’d you go?”

“Marcellos.” she says. “Is he here yet?” 

“I’m doing good.” I tease again. “How was Belgium?”

“Far.” she says and gives me her glare.

“They’re on the balcony.” I say waving her back as I move to the kitchen to put dinner in the fridge. 

“Claudia!” Jonah calls happily when she goes outside. 

“Only my brothers call me that.” CJ says.

“Ew! I don’t want you to think of me like that!” Jonah replies, looking suitably disgusted. 

“What’s in that beer anyway?” CJ asks.

“Nothing good.” Jonah sighs. 

“As it should be.” Josh replies. “I’m going to leave before the mushy stuff starts.”

Josh comes inside and before he blocks my view, I get a glimpse of CJ and Jonah kissing. “I can’t believe how well they’ve hit it off.” he says, gesturing over his shoulder with his beer. 

“I know.”

“They’re totally the opposite of each other.”

“Kinda like us.”

“We’re not opposites.”

“Oh, no?” He says arching a brow at me. 

“Well, it’s not like I’m Republican or something.”

“There are many things wrong with that joke, Donnatella.”

“Including how seriously you just took it.” I roll my eyes. I open up the fridge to put the salad I was making in. When I close the door, I’m surprised when he pins me up against the counter. 

“Being opposites is a good thing, Donna.” He says huskily in my ear, before pulling my earlobe into his mouth. My hands come up to his shoulders. CJ and his brother are here. Must keep that in mind. “Opposites attract. Are you attracted to me?” 

“God, yes.” I breath out before attaching my lips to his. He’s got this incredibly sexy voice. It makes me wild and he knows it. He could read off the phone book in this voice and I’d be totally turned on. 

Who am I kidding? Josh could read off the phone book in his regular voice and I’d be totally turned on. 

He’s playing with me right now, but he does have a point. He and Amy were exactly alike. He and Mandy were exactly alike. They repelled. We attracted. See that? Basic science, folks. 

“There’s people here.” I groan as his hand slips up my shirt. 

“Imagine how much I don’t care.” 

“You think Jonah’s and CJ are going to do it right out on the balcony?”

“Oh my God!” he covers his eyes and steps back. “Donna! Why would you say something like that?”

“You needed a bucket of cold water there, Wild Thing.” I chuckle.

“There is not enough bleach in the world to erase that from my mind.” he says dramatically. 

“Oh God!” Jonah yells from the balcony. “Oh, I can’t believe you just said that!”

I burst out laughing as I realize CJ just probably employed a similar trick. CJ comes in laughing from the balcony and Josh mumbles something about mind tricks and goes back out onto the balcony.

“I guess they really are alike.” I laugh to CJ. “Beer or wine?” 

“Wine.” she says, and I go hunting for the cork screw. 

“Hey, Donna.” CJ hedges. 

“Yeah.”

“I just wanted to let you know that Jonah did tell me everything about his past. He told me about the drugs and the drinking, and he told me about what happened that night between him and Josh. Well, he told me what Mallory told him. He doesn’t remember.” CJ says.

“You mean Mally Cat?” I laugh.

“God, she gets so pissed!” CJ laughs back. I like hanging out with CJ like this. I hope things go well for her and Jonah. They’re an unlikely couple, but they seem to be a good one. “But yeah. I just wanted you to know that I know now, too.”

“I hope you didn’t think less of him, CJ.” I say dropping my voice. “He’s really turned everything around and...”

“Donna, you quite obviously don’t have to defend him to me.” she replies. And we walk into the living room with our drinks and sit down on the couch. “I’ll tell you I never would have thought I’d be attracted do someone like him, to be honest, especially someone with some of the same personality traits as Josh and you know how he makes me nuts, but I have a lot of fun with Jonah. He’s got a sense of adventure. He makes me want to not work so late at night. I mean, there’s actually food in my refrigerator now.”

“And he’s being permanently transferred here for training.” I reply. “So, you’d get to see a lot more of him.” 

“Do you know he said he wanted me to come with him to Florida for Thanksgiving?” CJ blushes. 

“That’s five months away!” I say.

“He’s quite optimistic.”

“Are you that optimistic?”

“You know,” she says raising her glass to her lip. “I think I am.”

“Well, good for you, CJ.” I smile. “I just adore him, and it’ll be nice having you around to deflect all this Lyman ego.”

“Yeah, I was hoping that was a trait Jonah didn’t possess.”

“Mmm...not so much.”

“Well, what are you going to do?” she shrugs. 

“I’m going to see if they’re ready to eat.” I get up from the couch and head to the balcony door. What I see makes me stop and smile.

They’ve got their feet up on the balcony rail and beers in their hands. I’m sure Jonah’s is non-alcoholic. They’re talking but I can’t really hear about what. The Ave Maria is playing softly out of a portable radio on the floor next to Jonah. I slowly back out of the doorway and return to the living room. I think they’re going to be there for a while.

THE END


End file.
